Craig Griffey Asks For, Gets His Release From Mariners

Craig Griffey, the younger brother of Ken Griffey Jr., has been given his unconditional release at his own request, the Seattle Mariners announced Monday night.

Griffey, 26, was hitting .217 (26 for 120) with no home runs and five RBIs for the Mariners’ AA farm club in Memphis. He stole six bases in seven attempts. He played three games at AAA Tacoma, going 1 for 3.

It was his seventh year as a minor-league outfielder for the Mariners, who drafted him in the 42nd round in 1991. Before that, Griffey was a defensive back at Ohio State and had not played baseball competitively since junior high school.

Griffey leads voting

Ken Griffey Jr., who leads the major leagues with 29 homers, is the top A.L. vote-getter going into the final week of balloting for next month’s All-Star Game.

The Mariners outfielder, selected to start each year since 1990, had 2,048,265 votes in totals released Monday. He was the overall vote leader in 1994 and 1996, and topped the A.L. in 1991 and 1993.

Baltimore third baseman Cal Ripken, a 14-time All-Star who has started the last 13 years at shortstop, is second overall at 1,465,733.

Griffey was followed in the outfield by Cleveland’s David Justice (1,026,025) and Baltimore’s Brady Anderson (705,888).

The closest races were at first base, where ex-Mariner Tino Martinez of the New York Yankees (515,714) led Jim Thome of Cleveland (462,794), and at catcher, where Ivan Rodriguez of Texas (910,421) led Sandy Alomar of Cleveland (828,070).

Baltimore’s Roberto Alomar (966,668) led at second, and Seattle’s Alex Rodriguez (1,072,879) led at third. Rodriguez is on the disabled list because of a bruised chest and might not be available for the game.

Seattle’s Edgar Martinez led designated hitters with 708,210.

Voting continues through Friday.