Three years after coming to American from Cuba, LHP Roenis Elias jumped from Double-A to the Mariners, last season. Now, he finds himself fighting to keep his spot in the starting rotation.
Despite going 10-12, with a 3.85 ERA in 29 starts for the Mariners last year and becoming one of the rookie surprises in the American League, Elias opens spring training battling Taijuan Walker for the fifth spot in the rotation.
The right-handed Walker is a first-round draft pick of the Mariners, and a top pitching prospect in the organization.
That means Elias could find himself starting the season back in the minors.
"There's not a lot of difference between this year and last," he told MLB.com's Greg Johns. "Last year I didn't come in with a spot and this year you could say the same thing. I have to work hard and do what I did last year and even improve on that."
Even if he doesn't win the job in spring, he's earned the respect of Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon.
"He's got to get stronger," McClendon said. "He pitched well when he was healthy. He's got a dynamic curveball. The change-up got better at the end of the year. His consistency with the fastball command needs to be better and if he does that, he has a chance to be a pretty darn good pitcher in this league for a long time."