Marlowe travels with Mariners for Wild Card series

Published 1:00 pm Thursday, October 6, 2022

SEATTLE — Cade Marlowe is not quite a Seattle Mariner yet, but he is in that conversation.

Marlowe traveled with the Mariners to Toronto and is now in Houston, where he is a member of the team’s “taxi squad” during the 2022 Major League Baseball postseason.

“Cade, he can play defense, he can run and he hits,” said Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto at a press conference before the Toronto series. “He’s got power. He’s a sneaky good prospect …. he does a little bit of everything. This was an easy choice for us, just based on the qualify of his defense and the fact that he’s a plus runner, and in the postseason those are really key things to have in terms of bench impact.”

Dipoto added he believes Marlowe will play a part in Seattle’s future.

Marlowe is an emergency option, not eligible to play unless he is added to the Mariners’ main 26-man postseason roster. He was not called upon in the Toronto series, which Seattle swept in two games. MLB’s list of top team prospects predicts Marlowe will make the big league club in 2023.

Houston won the first game of the American League Division Series. The best-of-five series continues Oct. 13, with a third game in Seattle Oct. 15.

Marlowe’s dream season in the Minors, which saw him dominate at AA Arkansas and saw him promoted to AAA Tacoma late in the year, saw him recognized further as the Edgar Martinez Dominate the Zone Hitter Award for his work at Arkansas.

With the Travelers, he hit .291 in 2021, blasting 20 homers and driving in 86. He stole 36 bases and hit 18 doubles and 4 triples. Following his promotion to Tacoma, he kept on hitting, with a .250 average in 13 games, with 3 homers, 16 RBIs and 6 more steals.

It’s been a steady rise for Marlowe since being picked in the 20th round of the 2019 MLB draft. He began his career at Everett, but had to miss out on the entire 2020 season as the Minors were shut down for coronavirus. In 2021, Marlowe went back to Everett and hit so well he earner the Ken Griffey Jr. Hitter of the Year Award, ending the year with one game in Tacoma.

He has had back-to-back 20/20 seasons, 20 homers and 20 steals, one of only a handful of players to do so.