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As Opening Day nears, we’re going to take a tour around the leagues to take a look at which prospects have a shot of making major league Opening Day rosters. Think of it as commentary on our Baseball America Prospect Report. Since we usually release the Top 10 Prospects from East to West, we’re going to reverse that for these updates, moving from West to East to give our left coasters a shot at being first. We’ll start with the Seattle Mariners, where last year’s first rounder is on the fast track.

Who’s Hot: Thanks to his eight Ks and only two BBs and two hits allowed in six scoreless innings, 2006 first-rounder Brandon Morrow has been the Mariners’ spring surprise. One story compares him to Ken Griffey Jr. for his ability to make an instant impact, while another says that his improving splitter may help him land a spot on the Opening Day roster–he has 16 total minor league innings.

“We’ve always thought this kid had the ability to come quick,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “He’s done nothing in this camp to make us think otherwise. Is he real close? Yeah, he’s real close.”

Morrow isn’t the only prospect with a chance to make the roster. He appears to be battling Rule 5 righthander Sean White and Jon Huber for the final spot in the M’s bullpen.

Who’s Cold: No. 1 prospect Adam Jones has struggled as he carried .129/.161/.222 numbers into Thursday’s game. That comes on the heels of his less than impressive September. Add it up and he’s ticketed for Triple-A Tacoma, especially now that Ichiro has shifted from right field to center field.

Say Goodbye To: Jesse Foppert, once one of the best prospects in baseball, was released by the Mariners during spring training. Foppert has never seemed to bounce back after Tommy John surgery in 2003. He allowed six runs in only one inning of work this spring.

Any thoughts on the future of recently acquired prospect Jeff Frazier?

Posted by Brett | March 23, 2007 at 12:07 pm | Shortcut

Living in the Bay Area, I was fortunate enough to see Morrow pitch a lot of Fridays for the Cal Bears. I always felt that BA shorted him just a little bit. I really do think that Morrow does have a chance to be one of the better RHPs in the league. He really seems to have a knack for throwing the right pitch, in the right spot at the right time. It would be unfair to Morrow to compare him to Greg Maddux, so I won’t, but college batters seemed to respond to Morrow the way batters reacted to Maddux. They walk back to the duggout shaking their heads and talking about how they know they can hit this guy, but for “some reason,” they just don’t. Morrow doesn’t have Lincecum’s 100 mph heat, and Miller is the appeal of being a southpaw, all Morrow does is get outs and win games. He also struck me as a guy with extraordinary make-up. I really hope he doesn’t make it to The Show right out of spring training though – selfish reasons only – April 5th the Sacramento Rivercats host the Tacoma Rainiers, and I’ve got good tickets.

Posted by Dan Mattheis | March 23, 2007 at 12:52 pm | Shortcut

I am a High Desert Maverick Fan (and Team Historian) and with 2007 being our first season as the High A affiliate of the Mariners I was hoping to see Brandon Morrow as our opening night starter, but it looks like he is ticketed for a position much higher up. Pitching is very important in High Desert as well as everywhere else, so I am very curious about who will be here on Opening Night. Pitchers have fared well here, but most have psyched themselves out and succumbed to the high elevation and blowing wind and not learned to pitch. In 1998 we had John Patterson and Brad Penny finish one-two in the E.R.A. race. Six pitchers (plus a re-hab start by Cory Lidle) on that staff saw major league service, so it can be done. The Pitching Coach was Dennis Lewallyn.

Posted by Bob Bowen | March 23, 2007 at 1:03 pm | Shortcut

[...] At Baseball America’s prospect blog, they’re going back through their prospect reports and commenting on them based on what’s happened this spring.Â There’s some nice things to say about Brandon Morrow and they talk about how he’s in a battle with Sean White and Jon Huber for the final spot in the Mariners bullpen.Â He also talks about how Adam Jones has struggles and how Jesse Foppert was cut.Â It’s an interesting and up to date read. [link] [...]

Posted by The Mariner Monitor » Prospect Reports Plus on the Mariners | March 23, 2007 at 1:48 pm | Shortcut

How Is ANTHONY VARVARO Coming Along So Far This Spring.

Posted by tony | March 23, 2007 at 4:41 pm | Shortcut

in response to dan’s comment, morrow actually does have the 100mph heat of lincecum and usually throws slightly harder than tim. interesting comparison to greg maddux as well, never heard that comparison with morrow, a bit of a reach as morrow uses power stuff to get hitters out and maddux relies more on location and movement, also i dont think many college hitters walked away believing they could hit him :). on another note, the mariners could definetly use the bulpen help and if the kid’s ready i say let him play

Posted by Jim Fletcher | March 23, 2007 at 11:03 pm | Shortcut

Morrow is definatly on the fast track, he has exceptional make up and has a good body of work for a guy with only 16 pro innings, he can definatly hack it in Seattle, but is probably too advanced for Double A and the Triple A clubhouse might not do him any favors, I think Seattle should just give him a spot in the pen, and if he struggles reign him in a bit, but if he handles himself well let him go, and slowly increase his workload. Either way he is set to succeed.

Posted by Rich Banaszewski | March 25, 2007 at 9:21 am | Shortcut

To Mr. Bowen. Hold on to those tickets. Even if you don’t get Morrow to watch you may get to see Tony Butler, M’s left-handed #4 prospect to Morrow’s #3. That would be equally as good. And, if possible, buy up any Tony Butler stuff you find. It’s going to soon be worth much more than you’ll pay for it. And, hopefully, Chris Tillman won’t be far behind.

Posted by Lance | March 25, 2007 at 10:57 pm | Shortcut

As far as I’ve seen, Morrow has never touched 100 mph. He has gotten it up to 99 mph, but he usually backs that off in favor of more movement on the fastball and sits in the 91-95 mph range. As he progressed through his college career, I saw him use his fastball more and more to get ahead in the count and set up something off-speed to get the batter out. I may be wrong, but I truly believe it is the movement on his fastball, and his ability to hit spots that will carry Morrow. The times he did get hit at Cal was when he’d try to put a little extra behind the pitch – it would flatten out, and good hitters would put it in to play.

Posted by Dan Mattheis | March 26, 2007 at 2:55 pm | Shortcut