There has already been a lot of talk about whether or not the Mariners could decide to call up top outfield prospect Michael Saunders in lieu of Endy Chavez’ brutal knee injury Friday evening.

Health Issues

I’ve been told that the reason why Saunders, his left handed bat and his .296/.382/.506 line are still in AAA as of right now has a lot to do with his surgically repaired throwing shoulder.  He had the surgery last summer and it kept him out for the start of this season.  He’s playing the outfield but his arm isn’t near its above-average self.  Right now it’s to the point where it could be considered about average for a left fielder, which isn’t great but obviously passable.  We’ll see if that’s enough for GM Jack Zduriencik and company, or if they’ll wait a bit longer until he’s at full strength.

Scouting Report

Saunders was a fringe 5-tool talent before 2009, but a long swing held him back and had him striking out at Greg Halman rates.  This year his swing is still a bit long but visibly shorter and, with the help of improved pitch recognition, has allowed him to make more consistent contact.  This has produced a huge sigh of relief from everyone who was worried about his 31.6% strikeout rate in his first stint with AAA Tacoma.

While improved, Saunders’ swing still has holes.  In the video you’ll notice that he is very upright when he swings during his BP sessions, making it difficult to cover some parts of the strikezone. It’s worth noting that he takes a longer stride into a more athletic position during the game footage, but he still struggles with just about anything low or away. Of course, all rookies are far from finished products and adjustments will be made to patch him up.

Saunders has a smooth swing that allows him to shoot line drives all over the field.  It’s not a big power stroke, but he gets plenty of loft on pitches left up in the zone and he should easily develop 15-20 home run power with room to grow from there.

Saunders is a big guy at 6’4/205 (photos and video never do him justice) and has above average speed and range for someone his size.  He isn’t expected to be able to handle center field in the long term, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering that he’s bigger than every single active center fielder– only two, Carlos Gomez and Dexter Fowler, are as tall and Saunders has 25+ pounds on each of them– but being a fringe center fielder makes him a great fit for Safeco’s large left field.

Readiness

The throwing arm, as mentioned above, may very well be the primary reason for his AAA assignment at this point in the season, but is his bat MLB ready?  He got off to a huge start this year after being activated from the DL in mid-May, but has cooled off since.  In June he has only three multi-hit games as his batting line sits at .186/.300/.339.  Saunders hasn’t outgrown AAA just yet– not even close.  He hasn’t conquered the Pacific Coast League like Jeff Clement and Wlad Balentien.  He’s still just 22 years old and 66 games deep at the AAA level and could use a couple more months.

I’d like to see Saunders get promoted to Seattle just to be able to see him play more regularly, but I’m not sure it would be best for his development or for the team’s chances.  We don’t want to see Saunders placed in a platoon nor do we want to see the Mariners put up with his growing pains– not at this point in the season.

I don’t think Saunders is the move Seattle will make.  I don’t believe they want to rush him, especially with the health concerns.  Unfortunately, Seattle may have to make due without Chavez by running out some combination of Griffey, Balentien and Cedeno in left field or by calling up a veteran guy like Jerry Owens or even Prentice Redman.  Both scenarios are pretty lame, but this organization knows how valuable  athletic, left-handed, line drive hitters are in Safeco Field and I think they’ll let Saunders develop away from the pressure of Major League Baseball.

I could be wrong, of course.  We’ll know soon enough, possibly later today.  Either way I’m awfully excited for this kid’s MLB debut.

UPDATE: Geoff Baker:

I asked GM Jack Zduriencik moments ago about whether Saunders was considered as a call-up from AAA. Zduriencik said that yes, he was considered. But that the team feels he needs more exposure to playing time in AAA first, coming off an early-season injury layoff as the result of shoulder surgery.

“We just want to see him play more,” Zduriencik said. “Yes, he’s putting up some good numbers. But that’s in AAA. We want to make sure that if he is brought up, he’s ready to go. I don’t want to put a timetable on it. But if we’re told that he’s ready to play in the big leagues, then we’ll make a decision.”