The Mariners promoted Stephen Kolek to Triple-A on Thursday putting an end to Justus Sheffield’s time in the organization.
During the offseason the Mariners shuffled Sheffield to Triple-A taking him off their 40-man roster. Now the one top prized prospect is out of the organization altogether. Though 8 1/3 innings of work, across 10 games, Sheffield had a 14.04 ERA and a 3.24 WHIP which was bloated by a 4.3/11.9 K/BB ratio.
Sheffield was a first round pick of the Guardians in 2014. In July of 2016 he was traded along with Clint Frazier, JP Feyeresien, and Ben Heller to the Yankees in exchange for Andrew Miller. At the time the trade was considered a big haul for the Yankees but over six years later arguably the most productive player in the return thus far has turned out to be Feyeresien who never wore a Yankees uniform.
Sheffield made his major league debut for the Yankees in 2018 appearing in three games that season before the team included him in a trade for James Paxton.
In parts of four seasons with the Mariners, Sheffield would make 33 starts and appeared in 45 games after the trade. He managed a 12-12 record to go with a 5.40 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, and 78 ERA+ during that time.
The Mariners removed him from the 40-man roster during the offseason to make room for Tommy La Stella before outright releasing him on Thursday.
It remains to be seen if another organization gives Sheffield a chance. Despite the time between the trade to the Yankees and now, it’s worth mentioning that Sheffield will only turn 27 on May 13.
