The Mariners announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Casey Lawrence from Triple-A Tacoma. He’d cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a week ago, briefly elected free agency, and returned on another minor league deal. He’s now right back in the big leagues. Righty Troy Taylor was optioned to Tacoma in his place.
This marks the latest stop in a frequent matchup between Lawrence and the Mariners. Seattle originally claimed the righty off waivers back in 2017, and while he’s bounced around the league at times, he’s repeatedly made his way back to the M’s, signing a quartet of minor league deals and pitching for them in parts of three different seasons. Lawrence also spent the entire 2024 campaign in the Mariners organization, though he wasn’t brought up from Triple-A Tacoma at any point last season.
In 127 major league innings between the Blue Jays, Mariners and Cardinals, Lawrence has pitched to a 6.73 ERA with a 16.6% strikeout rate and an 8.5% walk rate. He’s also pitched in parts of 10 Triple-A seasons, working to a 4.32 ERA in 733 frames at the top minor league level.
It could very well be another short stint for Lawrence, who seems amenable to serving as a depth arm with the Mariners and riding the DFA carousel for the time being. He’ll give Seattle a fresh arm after a wild, back-and-forth extra-innings game saw the Mariners burn through seven relievers en route to a victory over the Reds yesterday. Each of Andres Munoz, Trent Thornton, Gabe Speier and Carlos Vargas has now pitched on back-to-back days, so Lawrence has a good chance at getting into tonight’s series opener in Toronto.