About Last Night: Kyle Lewis takes the air

Unless the Mariners win and all teams closest to them suffer an epic collapse, this spring should be the biggest draft pick that Mariners fans have ever seen in the Dipoto era. That will theoretically beat the previous record holder of 2016 – the 11th overall pick of Dipoto's first full year as GM, and the player who will make his major league debut in a particularly vivid fashion last night, Kyle Alexander Lewis.

Each year's project is a living organism with its own peculiarities and surprises, and one of the biggest surprises for the Mariners was to have Kyle Lewis "defeat" them against MLB's 11th Jim Callis. , said he would have taken Lewis to the forefront of the overall standings. A shooting star, then, some evaluators wondering if Lewis was really facing a tough test at the tiny Mercer College. I do not know how much of the potential drafters weigh heavily the moralistic implications of the words "rise" and "fall" to summarize who had a good summer in Cape Town and who did not, or who did had a series of unseen interrogation points hanging after their performance like wet linen on a line; bloodless and necessary work of the evaluator.

Bloodless blood for everyone except the player involved, of course, including the blood spilled by Kyle Lewis when he was involved in a collision to death during his first year at professional baseball, an injury that does not reflect in no way his skills. is inextricably bound to his story as a baseball player, even if he wants to get away from it. Rising. Fall. Suddenly, the future hope of the Mariners found themselves in free fall, forgotten and abandoned. Left out of all the Top-100's top lists after wrestling seasons to return to 100%, Lewis is enrolled in spring training this year, insisting on getting himself a name, hit the ball with determination and maybe a little anger during his first big win. league camp.

Yet, these hot Spring Training figures did not translate into the screaming mausoleum wind known as Dickey-Stephens Park, where, despite being hit hard, Lewis saw his power figures drop, his ISO drop to his lowest level in career .136. Many of us watched anxiously, hoping to see Lewis regain his magic of spring to line up with our GM claiming the sugar was spinning, insisting that Kyle Lewis hit the ball hard, despite a decreasing power, a rise of K% and alarming trends.

Despite everything, the Mariners have recalled their eligible prospect to Rule 5 after the end of the Arkansas season (and NB, Lewis alone attempted to result in the offense of Travs to the playoffs playoffs on his broad shoulders, with an OPS of 1.12 in the playoffs). . And now Kyle Lewis, the first of a long list of future hopes for the Mariners, made his debut last night. After being stranded in third place in his first MLB match with a hard-hit ball (100 mph output speed!), Lewis had a star in his second game.

Working against Reds star Trevor Bauer, Lewis scored a 2-0 lead, and when Bauer tried to go up and score with a fastball, Lewis was able to move up a gear.

(The guy in the Top Gun shirt, by the way, is the former hope of the Mariners and Joe Pistorese, a former WSU, who came out to support some of his teammates who had been called.)

What's special about this, though, is not just that Lewis has a magical moment, deserving national attention, by making his first professional pro match; It was how happy everyone was for him and the players with whom he could share it. As starting pitcher Justus Sheffield, who was Lewis's teammate in Arkansas, who sprang on Lewis in his post-match commentary. Or, Justin Dunn, who brought his electrical energy from the Arkansas canoe to Seattle, could not contain his happiness for his teammate:

Or another travel companion and recent call to Donnie Walton:

Or Shed Long, who has only played in spring training matches with Lewis, but is still deeply happy for his teammate:

Returning to the metaphorical farm, Evan White, Dom Thompson-Williams and Nick Zammarelli (known around such pieces as Nicky Three Sticks) all publish the same video of Lewis hitting his house as a result of their Instagram stories.

Or hey, someone who is not even a sailor anymore:

That says a lot about the culture of the current Mariners organization: players who are deeply interested in others, who consider that everyone's success is not a threat, but a celebration. Dunn and Sheffield both said they wanted to push each other. It's exciting to think about how these interpersonal relationships and authentic affinities could translate into a group of players celebrating each other's successes and pushing each other to reach even greater heights.

Even in a collaborative environment, it's important that everyone has a chance to shine. Last night, after a long way to get here, it was Kyle Lewis's moment.

Congratulations, Kyle.