Seattle Mariners

Mariners Thyago Vieira 1st Half Fall League Update

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Mariners and GM, Jerry Dipoto are hoping that Thyago Vieira will continue his rise up the minor league ranks so he can flaunt his one hundred-plus MPH heaters on the big stage. So far during this AFL season his fiery fastball has overwhelmed batters. Here is what his numbers look like after the 1st half.

It was exciting to see Edwin Diaz develop his fastball right before our eyes. Now it looks like he may soon have a one hundred-plus MPH hurler that could join him in the not so distant future.

Yes, the Brazilian, Thyago Vieira is slowly working his way up the minor league ranks to one-day combine with Diaz to become the most intimidating one-two punch in baseball.

Much like Diaz, Vieira has used is fastball -that has topped out at one hundred and four MPH- to strike out numerous batters. Down in single-A Bakersfield, Viera struck out fifty-three batters in 44.1 innings. Now, that doesn’t compare with Diaz’s fifty K’s in 25.1 innings, but it’s still a remarkable stat.

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During the first half of the AFL season he has only pitched 5.1 innings in five games, but so far, his strikeout numbers are on par with his Bakersfield figures. Vieira has seven strikeouts. And, in three of those five games he has multiple K’s.

One aspect of any young power pitcher when he starts throwing fire is his lack of control. For Vieira, this seems to be less of an issue. After all, he only has one walk. He hasn’t been perfect, though. In his first and last outings of the first half, Vieira was tagged for two hits and one earned run in each game. This is nothing to panic about, but it is noteworthy.

If he continues to throw over one hundred MPH on a consistent basis, and do so without having blemishes like I just mentioned. He could solidify himself as the most dominating pitcher in the AFL in the second half if he hasn’t already.

The question will be: can he sustain this type of power and success through spring training and his future minor league years, maybe we’ll see Vieira and Diaz paired up fairly soon. Fingers crossed.

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