Mariners, Dodgers Exchange Minor League Relievers; Robinson Ortiz to M’s for Tyler Gough

Robinson Ortiz looks to the plate during a Double-A Tulsa Drillers home game during the 2025 season. Credit: Robinson Ortiz/Instagram.

The Seattle Mariners announced a trade on Sunday evening with the Los Angeles Dodgers, as the squads swapped minor leaguers. Tyler Gough, a reliever selected in the ninth round of the 2022 MLB Draft, went to Los Angeles, while Seattle picked up Robinson Ortiz, a 25-year-old arm who spent time with three Dodgers farm sides in 2025.

Ortiz, a lefty, had a 2.76 ERA in 16 ⅓ Triple-A innings in 2025 but struggled with walks, with a 13.2 percent walk rate and a 1.224 WHIP. He mainly relies on a sinker, slider, and four-seam fastball, with both his heaters clocking in around the 93-94 mile per hour range, but the M’s are likely most interested in the high spin on his slider along with his generally low hard hit rate (32.6 percent in Triple-A) and barrel rate (4.7 percent in Triple-A).

There is definitely big-league potential with Ortiz, as he did make it to the Dodgers’ 40-man roster in 2025, but the relatively low velocity on his heaters is a point of pause for the potential middle reliever. At the very least, his southpaw slider, which has a fair amount of slurve-like action to it, is a pitch that the interest of any organization should be piqued by.