It’s been a frustrating season for Mariners infielder Ryan Bliss, and it got worse on Friday. Having finally worked his way back from a torn bicep suffered in the first month of the season, Bliss was injured again in a rehab game in Tacoma, tearing his right meniscus while running the bases. Bliss, who had hit an RBI double earlier in the game, led off the fifth with a walk, but slid awkwardly into second on a Ben Williamson GIDP. He stayed in the game for the next defensive half-inning, but left
the game after an awkward swing in his next at-bat.
Bliss had surgery to repair the damage and will be out for the rest of the season, but Justin Hollander is hopeful he can be back in time for spring training. Unfortunately, Bliss will now miss out on the opportunity to catch up on his lost time in the Arizona Fall League or another winter ball league, where he was scheduled to get some extra competitive at-bats. We wish Ryan all the best in recovering from this latest setback.
In other injury news, reliever Gregory Santos is also with Tacoma and has graduated to making rehab appearances. He’s scheduled to make between four and six rehab appearances for Tacoma and has already crossed one off the list, tossing a scoreless, hitless inning with one strikeout and one walk on Saturday in a 10-0 Rainiers blowout win. Per Hollander the goal for Santos is to see him able to consistently repeat his delivery, which the team believes will help him with strike-throwing and also being able to get to his upper-end velocity.
Fellow reliever Jackson Kowar is also on the IL and rehabbing in Tacoma after experiencing some shoulder soreness. The team did an MRI and found everything was structurally sound, but he’s being built back up to throwing. Starter Logan Evans has progressed to throwing bullpens in Tacoma; he threw a 25-pitch one today without issue and is scheduled to throw another one on Friday. If that goes well, he’ll start a rehab assignment for Tacoma early next week.
On the minor-league side, two players unfortunately had their seasons come to an early end. Standout hitter Michael Arroyo, who seems like a lock to win the Mariners minor league hitter of the year award, suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain and will not play again this season. Pitcher Ryan Sloan, who likewise seems like a good candidate to win the equivalent Mariners MiLB POTY award, also had his season end as he had strabismus eye surgery to correct a longstanding issue, and will not pitch in the postseason for Everett.
