Mariners Add Right-Hander Chris Heston In Trade With Giants
The Mariners have been looking to add some depth to their rotation and said they would do so via trade instead of free agency. They stayed true to their word today as GM Jerry Dipoto traded a player to be named later for right-hander, Chris Heston.
Although it is not official, the Mariners will be introducing the San Fransico Giants, Chris Heston, in the coming days.
Heston was once a high-ranked prospect in the Giants organization and then he became a fixture in the rotation back in 2015.
Unfortunately, he suffered an oblique strain during the 2016 season after spending the first two months of the year in the minors.
During that 2015 campaign, he showed signs of incredible form. Over his thirty-one outings, he had fourteen quality starts including six appearances without allowing a run.
The most notable of those six games was obviously his no-hitter -the Giants seventeenth in their storied history.
If he hadn’t hit three batters that game it would’ve been dubbed as “perfect”, but it was his lack of control which got in the way of him being a top pitcher in the league.
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Over the course of the 177.2 innings he pitched, he walked sixty-four men and hit thirteen of them. His thirteen HBP’s would be a league-high.
Before his injury this past season, it was clear that his control was still an issue. In just four relief outings, Heston allowed runs in three of those appearances, twice surrendering multiple runs. In the same games that he let up multiple runs, he also walked multiple batters.
Hopefully, a healthy Heston will be in no-hit form when he takes the field for the Mariners. He will be able to work with pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre on his control issues, and he will have the help of his start teammate, Felix Hernandez to assist in his grooming as a young pitcher.
If everything comes together as it should, the Mariners will most likely have Heston penciled in as the number four or five starter, depending on how they feel about Nathan Karns as he too is coming back from an injury.