In my second look of the season, I was able to see a handful of notable top prospects for both the Mariners and Diamondback organizations. Earlier this season both Tommy Troy (Diamondbacks, #2) and Gino Groover (Diamondbacks, #5) were on the injured list. Now past the All-Star Break and well into the season’s second half, both infielders are healthy and back on the field. Also new in Everett are newcomers to the Aqua Sox in Michael Arroyo (Mariners, #10) and Lazaro Montes (Mariners, #4). The pitching matchup featured a couple of unranked minor leaguers in RHP Roman Angelo for the Hops and RHP Will Schomberg for Everett. The Hops came away with the victory by a score of 7-3, despite a solid outing by Schomberg. The Hops had ten hits on the day, along with six walks. The Aqua Sox added six hits of their own in addition to four walks in what was a rather busy day on the basepaths.

will schomberg - RHP (Mariners, unranked): 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO

Schomberg is a low-level organizational depth type of arm. He signed with the Mariners after the 2023 Amateur Draft as an Undrafted Free Agent. After pitching just three innings in the Complex League late last summer, 2024 has been Schomberg’s first full season in affiliated ball. He started strong this season for Low-A Modesto. Over 70.1 IP for the Nuts, Schomberg struck out 97 batters. This outing was his third since being promoted to High-A and he pitched fairly well. Schomberg pitches from a very low arm slot. Although not quite a true sidearm slot, it’s highly deceptive and makes it difficult for hitters to see the ball out of his hand. The pitch mix was more or less average but plays up thanks to that deception. Schomberg’s fastball sat 92-94 mph on the day with some sinking action. He also mixed in what looked like an upper-70s curveball and a mid-80s slider that was his best pitch on the day. In all, he finished the day with 14 whiffs against a Hops lineup featuring four Top-30 prospects for Arizona.

Tommy Troy - SS (Diamondbacks #2): 2/4, 2B, BB, RBI

Tommy Troy has started rather slowly since returning from the injured list in mid-June. However, it looks as if his slow results at the plate are soon to turn around. Troy hit the ball hard all night long, both up the middle and to the opposite field. His first hit of the night came on the very first pitch he saw. Troy followed that up later in the game with a clutch RBI-double to widen the Hops lead to three in the top of the fourth inning. The swing mechanics are smooth, and Troy’s timing looked sharp all night long. Defensively, it was a smooth operation at shortstop. Despite questions out of the draft on whether Troy would be able to stick in the pros at shortstop, he looked the part in this one. There were a couple solid plays that Troy made to look routine on the infield. His footwork is on point and his arm won’t make the tough plays deep in the hole, but it won’t be much of a liability either.

Michael Arroyo - 2B (Mariners, #10): 1/3, 3B, BB, RBI, CS

Michael Arroyo has continued to succeed since a promotion to Everett earlier this month. Questions about his long-term power potential continue, but he’s answered them some with an ISO north of .200 all of this season. Although he’s hit his share of home runs this season (11 with Low-A Modesto before his promotion), it really isn’t going to be even average over-the-fence power by the time Arroyo reaches the big leagues. He’s more of a line drive hitter than a true slugger, and he’s just dangerous enough on the basepaths to stretch some singles into doubles, or doubles into triples. He accomplished the latter on Saturday, pushing a double into an RBI triple in the home seventh. Arroyo does a good job to use all fields and shorten up with two strikes. Despite his above-average speed, he has a slow jump from first which severely limits his base stealing ability.

Jack Hurley - OF (Diamondbacks, #13): 0/3, 2 BB, SB

Hurley walked twice but failed to record a hit against Everett. He’s rediscovered some power at the plate this season, but continues to struggle with swinging strikes. At times, his swing seems tuned to too much lift. His bat plane isn’t level and Hurley has a tendency to swing long to the ball. That happened a handful of times on Saturday, resulting in hittable pitches being fouled back into the netting. Other times, that lift in Hurley’s swing results in weak groundballs as he swings over the pitch. That was the result in the third inning when he grounded out weakly to third base. The hit tool is certainly below-average and despite Hurley’s good raw power, he doesn’t make enough hard contact to allow his raw strength to impact the game. He did get on base once in this one via walk, and then stole second base for his 11th of the year. It was a close play at second, but Hurley barely beat the throw.

Gino Groover - 3B (Diamondbacks, #5): 1/4, 2B, BB

Groover was playing in just his sixth game since returning from the injured list. He suffered a fractured wrist in April that sidelined him most of the season thus far. It seems as if he’s still getting his timing at the plate, as there were a handful of times that Groover dropped his elbow too early, resulting in a weak pop fly to left field rather than a hard-hit line drive into the gap. His contact skills are apparent, and as he finds his timing there’s a high chance he will be able to get into his above-average raw power more often. His double really should’ve been a single (or an out). It came on a weak bloop fly to right field that was simply misplayed by Lazaro Montes after a weak jump allowed it to drop to begin with. Defensively, Groover looked smooth at the hot corner. He made one solid snag on a scorched line drive, and made another soild play ranging to his left. His defense didn’t look anything special, but he certainly looked the part for the position and wasn’t a liability in the slightest.

Lazaro Montes - OF (Mariners, #4): 1/3, BB, RBI

Montes hit a couple of balls hard, including one that went to the warning track in straight away center field. His power looks extremely easy, and it’s apparent that he could tattoo a ball at any given moment. Unfortunately, outside of the hard-hit foul ball and hard-hit out, Laz simply couldn’t make contact at the plate. He struggled with pitches down in the zone and looked behind Angelo’s mid-90s fastball all night. Clearly, it’s still an adjustment period for Montes at the plate, but it’s going to take some time to iron out the hit tool concerns for his extreme raw power to come through. Defensively, it’s abysmal in right field. Montes misplayed three different fly balls, resulting in extra bases and runs scored for the Hops. His jump in the outfield is very slow and I wonder how long the Mariners will leave him in that outfield role. He’s destined for first base or a designated hitter role long-term.

Other notes:

Gavin Conticello (Diamondbacks, #29) had a double and a triple on the night. He had good plate apperances all night long and looked fairly solid in right field as well. Hunter Fitz-Gerald (Mariners, Unranked) hit his fifth home run of the season on a beautiful swing. He barreled the baseball well and it was a true no-doubter lined over the right-center wall. Second baseman Josh Hood (Mariners, Unranked) was playing shorstop and looked crisp on the infield, making a couple solid plays with great footwork and smooth mechanics.