Mariners hand out championship rings

More than 100 Minor League players from the Mariners system gathered on a back field in the team’s Peoria complex Sunday morning for the annual introductions from general manager Jack Zduriencik and staff.

This year’s gathering included a bonus, with everyone who played on the Tacoma Rainiers and Everett AquaSox last year receiving championship rings.

Tacoma captured the Pacific Coast League title, while Everett took the Northwest League championships.

Zduriencik spoke to the whole gathering and emphasized to the players that they’ll only be young once and to take advantage of this opportunity. He noted that last year’s Minor League group had very few off-field incidents and let the players they were all in this together.

Having a couple championship teams certainly helped reinforce the notion that the franchise is building from the ground up and good things are ahead.

Former catcher Dan Wilson is in camp today to help work with the Minor Leaguers. Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez will arrive Monday. And no word yet on that other guy, Ken Griffey Jr., who is expected to pop in at some point this spring as well.

Here’s a photo of pitcher Michael Pineda receiving his ring from Pedro Grifol, the director of minor league operations.