When the Seattle Mariners made the move the acquire Eduard Bazardo just before the 2023 trade deadline, it wasn’t the type of deal that grabbed much attention.
But it turned out to be one of the key moves for their run to the American League Championship Series two years later.
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Bazardo was called upon often and delivered with a breakout season while emerging as a key leverage reliever for the M’s in 2025. The right-hander posted a stellar 2.52 ERA and struck out 82 batters while leading the bullpen with 78 2/3 innings pitched on his way to a 5-0 record and 12 holds.
When Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto joined Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Friday, he detailed what the team saw in Bazardo and the tweaks they made to unlock his potential.
“Eduard Bazardo is a guy that we acquired at a trade deadline in a very small trade that nobody was paying attention to, and our guys were maybe more fired up about that trade acquisition than anything else we did that year,” Dipoto said.
What had members of the organization excited about landing Bazardo was the spin on his breaking ball and a fastball with the potential to be tweaked through “seam optimization.” The tweak to the fastball was changing the way Bazardo gripped it to create more two-seam action.
“So when we got Bazardo, he was more four-seam ride and spin the breaking ball. We changed the breaking ball a little bit and put a two-seamer in his hand,” Dipoto said.
The two-seamer and sweeper were the go-to options for Bazardo last season, and the results showed exactly why. The .151 batting average and .202 slugging percentage he allowed on his two-seamer were the lowest among all MLB pitchers. He also allowed the sixth-lowest batting average (.177) and ninth-lowest slugging percentage (.292) on sweepers. His plus-eight run value on the sweeper was the highest among MLB relievers, per Baseball Savant.
“He became an impact guy for us in leverage innings using a stuff set that was largely developed over the previous year and a half, and he wasn’t a young guy when he did this,” Dipoto said. “He wasn’t 22 (years old), but his velocity ticked up and everything as a result of some of the biomechanical programs that the guys put together.”
It wasn’t just the plan put together by the Mariners that led to Bazardo’s breakout, it was also the way the right-hander was open to making the adjustments.
“Zardo was one of those guys that just immediately bought in,” Dipoto said. “… It was a profound effect on the Mariners and I think it’s going to wind up making him millions of dollars pitching at the leverage points in games.”
Hear the full conversation with Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto at this link or watch the video at the top of this story. Catch Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m.
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