Andrew Moore Displays Surgical Focus

SEATTLE—Righthander Andrew Moore will take command over radar-gun readings and outs over intimidation. It’s a mentality that carried him to success at Oregon State, then into the Mariners system and now to the verge of the big leagues.

Moore won the organization’s pitcher of the year award in 2016, when he made 28 starts at high Class A Bakersfield and Double-A Jackson. He went 12-4, 2.65 while striking out 7.3 and walking 1.7 per nine innings.

He capped his season with two excellent starts in the Southern League playoffs in which he recorded a 1.20 ERA and allowed seven hits and no walks in 15 innings.

The Mariners invited Moore to big league camp this spring and expect him to begin the season at Triple-A Tacoma.

A supplemental second-round pick in 2015, Moore used stellar command and a multi-pitch repertoire to ascend quickly, but he still had to make adjustments.

“You just learn how to conserve your body over time,” said Moore, 22. “In college you start once every seven days. Now you are starting every five days, and it’s a huge adjustment . . . Hitters are able to make adjustments way quicker. You had to learn how to get guys out two and three times. It was fun to work that.”

Listed at 6 feet and 185 pounds, Moore doesn’t seem like a commanding pitching presence. Because of that, questions about durability have followed him, but he handled 178 innings in 2016 (counting the playoffs).

“I think my (velocity) was better at the end of the year than it was at the beginning,” Moore said, “and that came from . . . keeping up my strength and mobility throughout the whole season.”

Moore knows he has things to work on.

“My curveball is the one big pitch I really need to develop,” he said. “Right now, it’s just really inconsistent. (Developing) that into a putaway pitch would be big. That’s the next thing I’m going after.”

MARINADE

• The Mariners added full-time coaching positions to each of their minor league affiliates. In addition to a manager, each club will have three field coaches and a strength coach.

• Seattle signed first baseman/outfielder Kyle Waldrop to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. The lefthanded batter will serve as organizational depth as well as insurance for Dan Vogelbach at first base.

— Ryan Divish covers the Mariners for the Seattle Times