Seattle Mariners

It's unclear what direction the Seattle Mariners want to go in. They have a wealth of young talent in the minor leagues, some of which has seen major league action. 

The front office also has some fairly deep pockets to play with this off season, so it will be interesting to see whether Jack Zduriencik wants to rely on a mix of veterans and youth, or bring in a superstar player or two to help right what has been a very disappointing and consistently mediocre ship.

On Friday night, highly-touted prospect Taijuan Walker made his much-anticipated MLB debut for the Seattle Mariners against the Houston Astros.

And he was phenomenal.

In a season that has already seen a number of highly touted rookie pitchers make their presence felt, we can now add another name to the list: Taijuan Walker.

SB Nation's Bill Parker did us the favor of comparing Felix Hernandez and Randy Johnson based on their performances as members of the Seattle Mariners.

Just a quick glance at his findings leaves you with a burning desire to further analyze their dominance:

It's not even July and already we've seen some prominent players sent down in the Seattle Mariners system. A season that was supposed be one of contention and progress has, thus far, been yet another year of rebuilding and disappointment.

The Mariners are currently 35-45, 12 games back in the American League West. Barring a drastic turnaround, they'll be sellers at the trade deadline, allowing for some young prospects to get a taste of major league action, a process all too familiar among the club and its fans by now.

As of June 27, the Seattle Mariners are 12 games out of first place. In this case, 12 is not a particularly good number. One could argue that 12 is a number that is too high to realistically overcome, even with months to go in the season.

Is the 2013 season on the brink of disaster? Will fans already be forced to start looking forward to 2014?

Well, that was about as short lived as humanly possible.

Just two days after returning from the 60-day designated list, Franklin Gutierrez' is officially back on the 15-day disabled list with a hamstring injury. The initial diagnosis does not look good:

If you had to sum up the 2013 Seattle Mariners in one word as we approach the end of June, which one would you choose?

Disappointing?

Underwhelming?

Predictable?

For a team still searching for answers, it's hard to stay positive these days.  

The Seattle Mariners appear to be confident that Mike Zunino is ready to be their everyday catcher. Whether or not the youngster is up to the challenge is yet to be seen.

As June continues to roll on, the call-ups are continuing as Mike Zunino was called up by the Seattle Mariners from Triple-A Tacoma.

Got it confirmed from someone who would know: Mike Zunino has gotten the callup, catching a plane from Vegas to Seattle this afternoon