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Mariners sign former World Series champion, 1st-round pick to free agent contract
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- Mariners sign former World Series champion, 1st-round pick to free agent contract
Mariners sign former World Series champion, 1st-round pick to free agent contract originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The Seattle Mariners have added some experienced pitching depth as they seek to reach their first World Series.
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Their newest right-handed pitcher is a former first-round pick and a World Series champion, which amounts to a pretty impressive pedigree.
They signed Dane Dunning to a free agent contract on Thursday, according to MassLive's Chris Cotillo .
It'll be a minor league contract for Dunning, who presumably will be invited to major league spring training.
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Dunning has pitched parts of six seasons in the major leagues with a career 4.44 ERA.
He was a first-round pick by the Nationals in the 2016 MLB Draft after starring for the Florida Gators.
He never made it to the majors with the Nats, though, and instead debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 2020.
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He then spent the next four-and-a-half seasons with the Texas Rangers before closing out the 2025 season with the Atlanta Braves .
He had a 3.38 ERA in five appearances with the Rangers in 2025, but that ballooned to 10.80 in seven outings with the Braves.
Dunning has pitched 593.1 innings in his MLB career and allow 593 hits. He has 538 strikeouts.
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His homers per nine is 1.2, a little higher than you'd like, and his 3.3 walks per nine is just a tad high, too.
Dunning is a 6-foot-4 righty who claimed his World Series ring with the Rangers in 2023. He just turned 31 in December.
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Now, he'll try to find a way to make the Seattle Mariners and continue his pitching career back in the AL West Division.
