Quick trip to the majors

PEORIA, Ariz. — Not a lot of people gave Tom Wilhelmsen a chance to make the Seattle Mariners’ major league roster when spring training began more than six weeks ago.

And that includes Tom Wilhelmsen.

“Maybe a two-percent chance of it,” the 27-year-old relief pitcher said Tuesday. “I

was thinking because of my lack of experience I would be headed to Double A. I was hoping I might be able to get a callup at some point this year, definitely not at the beginning.”

After a spring training camp when he was one of the Mariners’ better relievers, Wilhelmsen over-shot Double-A by a big margin. Pitching coach Carl Willis and manager Eric Wedge told him Tuesday morning that he will make the team.

“We put him in about as many situations as you can and he’s handled them all very well,” Wedge said. “He has a good arm, he’s a big guy and his secondary stuff is very good. He’s pitched his way onto this ballclub. He was probably a longshot early on, but what people need to recognize is that anything is possible and he’s earned a spot on this club.”

Teams are required to set their roster by 9 a.m. Thursday, although Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said all that remains are procedural issues. Besides Wilhelmsen, the Mariners also told rookie reliever Josh Lueke and left-handed reliever Aaron Laffey that they had made the team.

Wilhelmsen has never pitched above the Class A level in the regular season, but the Mariners saw other things that made them believe he fits their bullpen.

“No. 1, you look at his age,” general manager Jack Zduriencik said. “There’s a degree of maturity there that works in his favor. The other part of it is the fact that he hasn’t pitched all that much, so it’s somewhat of a fresh arm.”

For a 27-year-old, there is a lack of mileage on his right arm.

Wilhelmsen was a prospect in the Brewers’ organization after they drafted him in the seventh round in 2002, but he failed a drug test and was suspended in 2004 and chose to leave baseball from 2005-2008.

He traveled and worked as a bartender those four years, then rediscovered his desire for the game and decided to give it another try. In February, 2010, he tried out for Zduriencik on a practice field at the Mariners’ facility, and they signed him to a minor-league deal.

Wilhelmsen started 12 minor-league games least year, including three with the Class A Everett AquaSox, and the Mariners made him one of seven prospects from the organization to pitch in the Arizona Fall League.

Scouts loved his mid-90 mph fastball and good secondary pitches, and the Mariners, knowing another organization might grab him if left unprotected, put Wilhelmsen on their 40-man roster going into spring training.

“He was always a talented kid,” said Zduriencik, who was the Brewers’ scouting director when Wilhelmsen pitched in that organization. “If you look back at his record, even the first year he competed in the Midwest League way back when, he was an All-Star.

“We wanted to create a camp that was competitive. He came in and competed and earned a right to be on the club. He’s been in the mid-90s with the good breaking ball. He’s been throwing strikes. He’s big. It’s an interesting journey that he’s been on.”

Wilhelmsen said that journey came to mind when Willis and Wedge told him he’d made the team.

“A bunch of different feelings came through me,” Wilhelmsen said. “I called my wife, then I called my dad, my mother, my brother and some friend back home.”

Over the phone, he could tell they were crying.

“It’s been a crazy road and we’re here,” he said. “But it’s not over yet.”

Gutierrez to start season on DL

Center fielder Franklin Gutierrez worked out with the team Tuesday morning and felt good, but Zduriencik said he won’t be ready for opening day because he has missed too much playing time the past 10 days because of stomach problems.

Zduriencik said the team will put Gutierrez on the 15-day disabled list, back-dating the DL time to allow him to rejoin the team April 6.

“But he’s going to have to get some work in to be ready at that date,” Zduriencik said. “He had a really good workout today and he felt good. He won’t be ready simply because his sea legs aren’t under him. He doesn’t have the ABs.”

Zduriencik said there still isn’t a firm diagnosis from the latest round of tests on Gutierrez, whose stomach problems go back to last season.

“I think it’s more possibilities or theories or whatever,” Zduriencik said. “It’s a big loss to start the year without a Gold Glove center fielder. But there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Jimenez outrighted to Tacoma.

The Mariners will start the season with non-roster invitee Luis Rodriguez as a backup infielder. They cleared room on the 40-man roster for Rodriguez by outrighting left-handed pitcher Cesar Jimenez to Class AAA Tacoma

Jimenez was out of minor league options and before the Mariners could send him down he had to clear waivers, which he did. Jimenez had a 9.82 ERA in 11 exhibition innings.

Roster all but set

The Mariners won’t finalize their roster until after tonight’s game in Los Angeles, but Zduriencik didn’t sound confident that a late trade or signing would alter the team he now has in place.

“If something could be done to make the ballclub better, we would entertain that,” he said. “But at this moment in time, pretty much the roster is set.”

If it stays this way, here’s how the Mariners will open Friday night at Oakland:

• Starting pitchers: Felix Hernandez, Jason Vargas, Doug Fister, Erik Bedard, Michael Pineda.

• Relief pitchers: Brandon League, Chris Ray, Josh Lueke, Jamey Wright, Aaron Laffey, David Pauley, Tom Wilhelmsen.

• Catchers: Miguel Olivo, Adam Moore.

• Infielders: Justin Smoak, Jack Wilson, Brendan Ryan, Chone Figgins, Adam Kennedy, Luis Rodriguez.

• Outfielders: Milton Bradley, Michael Saunders, Ichiro Suzuki, Ryan Langerhans.

• DH: Jack Cust.

• Disabled list: Shawn Kelley, David Aardsma, Franklin Gutierrez.

Today in camp

Mariners vs. Dodgers, 7:05 p.m. at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles (FSN TV and ESPN 710 AM radio). Left-hander Erik Bedard will start for the Mariners against Dodgers right-hander Rubby DeLaRosa.

Of note

Injured closer David Aardsma threw 20 pitches off the bullpen mound Monday, his first bullpen session since hip surgery in early January. Aardsma, expected to miss about a month of the season, will travel with the team and continue his rehab. … Reliever Shawn Kelley, recovering from right elbow surgery, will throw pitches off flat ground today and said he would pitch off the bullpen mound in “four or five days.” Kelley will remain in Peoria a few more weeks to continue his work. He’s expected back in June. … the Mariners’ 7-2 victory over the Rockies gave them a 16-12-2 Cactus League record, their first winning record since 2004. … Miguel Olivo caught nine innings Tuesday and appears ready for opening night after suffering a strained left groin on March 5. … Jack Cust hit a two-run home run and minor league first-base prospect Rich Poythress went 2-for-2 with a double. … Jamey Wright, a non-roster player who won a bullpen job, pitched a scoreless inning to complete an unblemished spring. He didn’t allow a run in 12 innings. … Charlie Haeger, the veteran knuckleball pitcher who went to spring training hoping to make the Mariners’ rotation, will be out 6-8 weeks after having back surgery. Haeger pitched in only one exhibition game before having back problems.

Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com/marinersblog and follow his Twitter updates on the team at @kirbyarnold