Mariners Sign Free Agent RHP Chris Flexen
INF/OF Tim Lopes was designated for assignment
Chris Flexen was one of the top pitchers in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) during the 2020 season. Over the course of the year, he posted a 3.01 ERA (39 ER, 116.2 IP) with 30 walks and 132 strikeouts in 21 starts for the Doosan Bears, despite missing all of August with a broken foot. In 2021, he will look to pickup right where he left off as he returns state-side with the Mariners.
“I am extremely excited to be part of the Seattle Mariners Organization,” Flexen said. “This is a young group of guys that have a lot of talent and I look forward to competing along side them this year.”
Flexen terrorized the KBO with a 4-pitch mix (4-seam fastball, slider, curveball and changeup), using his plus-fastball 61.8% of the time. All season long, he demonstrated an ability to locate his fastball on the edges of the plate and successfully buried his breaking balls for regular swings and misses. Flexen boasted a whiff rate above 40% for both his curveball (42.7%) and his changeup (40.6%) in the KBO, well above the 22.2% league average whiff rate on all pitches. (stats courtesy of Ben Howell at https://benhowell71.shinyapps.io/KBO_Wizard/).
Before leaving for Korea, Flexen had shown flashes of prospect pedigree with the Mets, ranking as the № 14 prospect in the Mets organization heading into the 2017 season. That year, he made his Major League debut with the Mets, but struggled to find consistency with his breaking pitches. Two years later, during the 2019 season, he relied heavily on his slider to keep hitters off his fastball, using his slider 22.9 % of the time, compared to his changeup (12.8%) and his curveball (3.6%).
In the KBO, we saw Flexen transition to leaning more on the use of his curveball, tossing the pitch 12.5% of the time to compliment his slider (16.9%) and his changeup (8.8%). By demonstrating a willingness to throw all three of his breaking pitches, he kept KBO hitters guessing in all counts, and he will look to build on that success with the Mariners in 2021.
For more information on Flexen’s career, see below:
To make room on Seattle’s Major League, 40-man, roster, infielder/outfielder Tim Lopes was designated for assignment. Seattle has 7 days to trade, release or outright the contract of Lopes to the minor leagues.
