"The grass will be greener in the Mariners future for two big reasons in Tacoma; Michael Pineda and Dustin Ackley. Both Ackley and Pineda were ranked in the Baseball America midseason top 25 prospects at No. 7 and 11 respectively. On Friday night, their talents were on display as Pineda went five strong innings, in which he allowed one earned run, one hit and one walk while striking out an impressive 11 batters. Ackley finished the game 1-for-3 and had a couple of nice defensive plays. In attendance was Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik, who said he liked what he saw out of Pineda. "He was pretty impressive," Zduriencik said. "What I was impressed with was that he was very poised, very composed and obviously a power arm. He is going to be fun to watch for years to come." Pineda, 6-foot-5 and 243 pounds, is a big, power throwing, 21-year old right-handed starting pitcher out of the Dominican Republic. Besides his fastball, which touched 98 Friday, he features a hard slider and a changeup, both pitches he is still working on developing. As of right now, it looks like both his fastball and slider could be plus pitches down the line. Mike Sweeney, who is currently with the Rainiers on a rehab assignment, said he hasn't seen many pitchers with the stuff that Pineda has. "What didn't you see? Throwing the ball 100 miles per hour and any pitch at any time for a strike," Sweeney said. "The last time I faced a guy like that was Pedro Martinez, a guy who could throw that hard, that kind of command and the sequence of pitches. He is good, really good."" http://blog.seattlepi.com/baseball/archives/215647.asp
