The 11-year veteran is now a sage for pitchers on the way up.

The return of Aaron Sele to the Seattle Mariners in 2005 has seen the Poulsbo native making a contribution to the team both on the field and in the clubhouse.

While he’s compiled an up-and-down 6-9 record and posted a 4.70 ERA this season, Sele has also become one of the pitching staff’s veteran leaders, offering advice to a team increasingly reliant on its youth.

Whether it’s helping reliever Rafael Soriano with his slider or talking with starting pitcher Gil Meche about mental preparation, Sele, drawing on a career that includes 333 starts, is a respected figure for clubhouse consultations.

“That’s something I can pass on to help other players,” Sele said, after warm-ups and stretching for a Mariners’ contest with Texas in early July. “At this point in my career, it’s not about making All Star games, it’s about being able to contribute to the team.”

The 35-year-old’s career came into question a year ago, when he was sidelined with “shoulder fatigue” that kept him from finishing his third season with the Anaheim Angels.

Unwilling to retire, Sele took aim at a slot with the Mariners in early 2005.

Though his fastball didn’t possess the same pizzazz of years past, he made enough adjustments to impress the coaching staff and signed for a $700,000 minor league deal.

“I think he’s shown that he’s a pitcher that can adapt and change his approach to compete from when he was younger to now,” said Pat Borders, a fellow journeyman who’s often behind the plate for Sele’s starts. “And he’s shown he can beat good teams with that approach.”

It’s not Sele’s first stint in Seattle. Following five years in Boston and two in Texas, in 2000 he signed a two-year deal with Seattle as a free agent for about $7 million per season.

But it’s different now.

“I had to come back on a minor league contract and earn my way back on the team,” Sele said. “I wasn’t necessarily an afterthought, but it was along those lines.”

A draw to Seattle was pitching coach Bryan Price, whom Sele said is one of the finest in the league. The move also reunited Sele with M’s trainers Rick Griffin and Tom Newberg, whom he respects greatly.

Having worked with Sele before, Griffin and Newberg knew of his shoulder ailments.

“If I was going to have to come here and earn my way on the team, I wanted to have the best staff,” Sele said.

One of his most recent outings, a July 1 start against Texas, was not Sele’s finest. The night did not begin well, with Rangers lead-off man David Dellucci going deep for a 419-foot home run to right.

Sele said the blast was deserved.

“I swung a slider middle of the plate,” he said after the game. “They’re supposed to get hit like that.”

But, he added, “the solo homers don’t bother you. It’s the two-out hits that continue to keep their rally going.”

Sele gave up six runs in five and two-thirds innings, and the Mariners’ offense could muster just five hits against the Rangers’ Chan Ho Park.

The result: a 6-2 loss.

“Aaron just missed his spots,” said manager Mike Hargrove, in a noticeably bad mood as his team slid toward the bottom of the AL West standings. “And when you miss spots against those types of hitters, you pay for it.”

Though it was an off-night, Sele’s year has also seen highlights, including a complete game shutout against the San Diego Padres on May 22. He’s had streaks on both side of the coin, winning four of five in one stretch and losing four of five in another.

But that’s baseball, Sele said.

“You’ve got a 162-game season,” he said. “You know you gotta play hard every day, but you gotta do it six months. That’s the challenge.”