Mariners Minor Leaguers to watch in 2025
By Berlin Kofoed, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - When it comes to the Seattle Mariners minor league system, there are certainly many names that are brought up so very often. Colt Emerson, Harry Ford, Cole Young, to name a few. Even Brandyn Garcia and Ben Williamson have finally been getting some consistent mentions recently, and I think they both stand a very good chance of making their MLB debut with the Mariners at some point during the 2025 season. However, when I was tasked with talking about players that I thought would make a splash this upcoming season within the system, I wanted to talk about some guys that I’ve seen play and really have enjoyed, players that impressed me and I know are going to continue to do so.
After listing out every player from each minor league team that I have enjoyed and really think are due for a strong season, I managed to narrow it down to five, spreading it out across the field and levels in the farm system: two pitchers (Michael Morales and Danny Wirchansky), one catcher (Connor Charping), one infielder (Hogan Windish), and one outfielder (Lazaro Montes). In 2024, all of these players impressed me in different ways, and I’ve had the luck of seeing almost all of them come through high-A Everett AquaSox. I really anticipate, based on how they’ve been doing since they first debuted in MiLB, that they will have a strong season, and I hope to bring some more people into the fanbases of these players.
Michael Morales
This is a pitcher that has definitely gotten plenty of buzz about him since his draft in 2021, but at just 22 years old, he’s still very much viewed as young and possibly not ready to square off against the stronger bats. Which, yes, he is young, and he took a little bit to find his footing after his promotion to double-A Arkansas after 15 games with the high-A Everett AquaSox. It was a tough watch initially because he’d been so strong in Everett, going 9-1 through his 15 starts, allowing only two homers through 78 hits, and striking out 80 batters. He left Everett with an ERA of 2.36, and seemed primed to go against the elevated playing in Arkansas, but had a rough first game.
Earning a loss after taking the mound for his first 5.2 innings in Arkansas, he allowed five hits to turn into five runs earned, with four strikeouts. He doubled the strikeout count in his next start, and slowly started to chip away at his initial 12.71 ERA. Outside of one tiny slipup in a game that raised his ERA again, he dropped it down to 3.88, winning four of his 12 total games. There were definitely more homers against him, but he struck out nearly the same amount of batters, ending with 67 total.
I genuinely feel that, with how things started perking up for him as he calmed down and started to fit in, 2025 is absolutely shaping up to be a monster of a season for Morales. He earned himself the Texas league Pitcher of the Week in the middle of September, which I think just further underlines that he was definitely coming into his own with Arkansas. Does he stand a chance for a big league call up? I think possibly in 2026, after either a full season with Arkansas or a split season with Arkansas and triple-A Tacoma. I would love to see his ERA reflect what it was in his short time at Everett by the end of the 2025 season, or hover right around 3.00, with very few earned losses.
Danny Wirchansky
Wirchansky is a pitcher that, after being drafted in 2019 by the Milwaukee Brewers, didn’t see any minor league play time at all. He’s traveled from team to team, some with the MiLB, some with international leagues, but after spending a bit of time in Puerto Rico, the Seattle Mariners signed him to a minor league contract as a free agent. In the beginning of April 2024, he finally made his debut, and this left handed pitcher finally got the chance to impress the league.
He got 17 starts and played in a total of 27 games in 2024, holding an 8-6 record, ending the season with an impressive 2.84 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. When he didn’t start a game, he was often brought in as a long reliever, going three to four innings at a time, which is definitely an asset to the Mariners bullpen if he’s able to continue that long reliever role going forward. There were only ten home runs that were managed off him, while he struck out 89. Despite not debuting until he was 26 years old, I think he definitely put up some impressive numbers that, along with being a lefty, will help him stand out when a relief pitcher is needed.
Wirchansky got my attention early on in 2024, and I was excited to see what was bound to happen each time he either started or came in for a few innings. He has strong command of his pitches, and with a little more time with the pitching lab the Mariners are known for, I think he has so much more to show. I would love to see him in talks for a debut or working him to come up to make his MLB debut, but in the meantime I firmly believe he’s going to have just as strong of a 2025 season as he did in 2024. The flexibility of being a starter and a long reliever definitely gives him more versatility, especially since a new starting pitcher isn’t something the Mariners are currently seeking with Emerson Hancock as their unofficial 6th in the rotation. But someone to help cover four innings when a starting pitcher starts off rough? I can definitely see Wirchansky slotting right in there if he has another strong season.
Connor Charping
After being signed to a minor league contract as a free agent with the Seattle Mariners, Charping spent a couple of years with the Arizona Complex League team. In 2024, he finally got his promotion to the low-A Modesto Nuts and, after 44 games, got a promotion once again to finish off his season in high-A Everett. He has clearly shown that he is progressing to the throughout the Mariners farm system, making consistent contact with the ball while also being a strong backstop for his pitching battery.
When it comes to catchers with the Mariners, clearly there is the hope to find a suitable back up for Cal Raleigh, who is very accomplished both hitting and catching. Charping, as he’s settled into the system over the years, has only had a steady increase in hit batting average. In 2024, he had a combined slash line of .276/.408/.364, striking out 43 times in 225 at bats. He definitely isn’t a power hitter, with most of his hits being singles or doubles and only a lone home run in Modesto across the entire season, but it seems to be what the Mariners are after right now: players that can put the ball into play.
Behind the plate, he had a fielding percentage of .991 combined for a total of 67 games, with 660 put outs, two double plays, and eight passed balls. He’s definitely been a steady presence behind the plate, and that combined with his hitting is making him a very strong prospect as he starts to climb the ranks of the Seattle farm system. If he’s able to get promoted, then I think he might be in the talks to be backup to Cal Raleigh in 2026, should that be a need that the team has at that point and if Harry Ford isn’t still around. Having a backup has been an issue for the team in the last few years, with injuries and less-than-impressive showings from other catchers in that time, so I would like to throw my hat in for Charping down the road.
Hogan Windish
If there is one thing the Mariners have seemed constantly in need of since Ty France’s all-star season, it’s a solid first baseman that can also hit consistently, and Windish is filling out that profile nicely. A bit of a slow to start in his 2024 season with the double-A Arkansas Travelers, after he had a whopping four home runs and nine RBI all in one game in late June, things started to pick up just a bit more. That game helped to earn him the Texas league Player of the Week for the week of June 30th, and it was well deserved. Windish has always been a consistent hitter, and reliable as someone with power behind the bat when he manages to get some contact.
In Arkansas, he appeared in 124 games, with a total 436 AB. While he had a disproportionate strikeout rate of nearly 40%, he still put up 15 home runs, 19 stolen bases, and 62 RBI. His slash line might not be the strongest when looking solely at his performance in Arkansas (.218/.332/.383), it seems like this was a weaker year for him. I fully think he can definitely bounce back now that he’s gotten more settled in. His line in Everett was .270/.372/.506, which feels like something that could be easily replicated and improved upon with some more discipline at the bag.
Windish got some experience all over the infield in 2024, but the majority of his time was between first base (55 games) and second base (41). As I mentioned earlier, first base is where he really shines the best, managing a fielding percentage of .986 with 382 put outs, 27 double plays, and just six errors. Windish covers foul ball territory well, and has a great eye for the ball in the sky. If he’s able to see his career out to the big leagues with Seattle, Perry Hill should be a great help to making his fielding even better.
He’s played a bit in the 2025 Spring Training, and he’s already showing his strength. Hogan hit home runs in back to back games, and while I know it’s Spring Training and the stats don’t really matter that much, I’m still using it as just a guideline for where he’s at with his feel going into the season. I’m not sure where he’ll probably start the season off - my guess is still Arkansas, at least to start, since Tacoma isn’t hurting for a first baseman at the moment - but I don’t doubt that there is a possibility of a major league debut in the somewhat near future. He’s only 25, three years into playing after being drafted in 2022, so he still has time to build on his strengths from last season and impress in 2025.
Lazaro Montes
Montes has been a powerful player that has drawn attention a lot over his couple of years with the Mariners organization, signing from international free agency to a minor league contract in 2022. He spent the 2022 season with the Dominican Summer League Mariners, and then started 2023 with the ACL Mariners. However, he only spent 37 games with the ACL team before getting a promotion to the low-A Modesto Nuts, where he finished out that season. Once again, after 65 games with Modesto in 2024, Montes was promoted to the high-A Everett AquaSox. In his time, he has accumulated several awards through each level of play for him, including the 2024 Baseball America Low Class A All-Star, the NWL Player of the Week in August of 2024, and was also named to the 2024 MiLB Awards All-MiLB Prospect First Team.
Seattle Mariners outfield prospect Lazaro Montes receiving awards from the organization before a game on September 28th, 2024 at T-Mobile Park. (Photo by Anthony May for Circling Seattle Sports)
Montes left Modesto with a slash line of .309/.411/.527, and only ran into a bit of a hiccup when he came up to Everett, where his batting production slowed down. He ended his season in Everett with a slash line of .260/.378/.427, which to me shows that he is most likely going to start off back in Everett once again, unless he has an incredibly strong showing in Spring Training. He definitely has the power needed to be an excellent batter, but he needs a bit more plate discipline and patience to be crafted into that.
His main position played is out in right field, with some stints at designated hitter when the situation arises, and his 6’3” size has really helped him to track the ball, several times going into the foul territory and almost over the fence at Funko Field in Everett as he was determined not to lose out. He had an overall fielding percentage of .956, only earning seven errors through his 94 games played while totaling 149 put outs. Over his time in Everett, he definitely started getting more familiar with the field, which has to be quite the mental shift to make when players first get moved.
Mariners left fielder Randy Arozarena has talked about, in a way, taking Montes under his wing in the past offseason and current Spring Training to help him out, which I fully believe will help him to shine in 2025. I think it’s more likely, like I said, that he will start in Everett, but I also won’t be surprised that he gets an off season promotion to Arkansas as they balance each team out. So far, he’s had a homer and a few runs in his limited times at bat this Spring, and I don’t see that petering out anytime soon.
I look forward to the upcoming season, not just to see where these players all fall and how they end up doing by the end of the season, but to also see the newer players that spent so much of the 2024 season with the ACL Mariners. I want each of these players to show up strong for their teams. They’d all make great additions to the actual Seattle Mariners team, but some still have much to learn before they’re ready. The season looms ever closer on the horizon, and I can’t wait to learn more and more about these players as it goes.
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