Seattle Mariners Free Agent Profile: A.J. Ellis

With the departure of Mike Zunino and the subsequent arrival of Omar Narváez, the Mariners have lost a significant amount of defensive productivity behind the plate.

Going into 2019, the Mariners aren’t focused on winning games. Instead, the main concern of their upcoming season is player development and seeing what they have for their set window of contention.

Perhaps the most important aspect of player development will be the rotation, with Justus Sheffield, Erik Swanson, and Justin Dunn all expected to make appearances at some point next year. Numbers ultimately won’t matter to the trio of young starters, but game experience and the development that comes from that will, and having a veteran catcher that’s handled young, talented rotations in the past could be very beneficial.

If you’ve been following our latest coverage of the Mariners’ offseason, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of A.J. Ellis and the effect he could have on Seattle’s youthful rotation. Entering his age 38 season, the former Dodger is likely at the end of his career and would simply be a move for this year alone.

Omar Narváez is the starter, and perhaps the Mariners’ catcher of the future. However, Narváez’s acquisition has been met with skepticism about his defensive ability. Right now, the M’s have one other catcher on their 40-man roster in David Freitas, who’s fine to carry in a rebuilding season but doesn’t offer you much offensively or defensively.

It may make more sense for the Mariners to find a back-up catcher who makes up in one department what the other (Narváez) lacks. For his entire career, Ellis has been one of the more consistent defensive catchers in baseball while handling the likes of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke in their prime.

Such experience and knowledge would certainly transfer to Seattle’s young arms, but also could be used to assist in the progression of Narváez’s defense.

While Ellis is a defense-first catcher, he hasn’t been as abysmal at the plate as some may claim. In nine seasons, Ellis has a career 12.2% walk-rate while slashing .239/.340/.352. The numbers aren’t necessarily flashy, but they’re by far more impressive than anything the Mariners have seen from their back-up catcher in years past.

Again, numbers aren’t what matter here. What matters is the effect Ellis could have on his younger teammates and how valuable that may be to the Mariners in their current position. To me, it feels like a no-brainer.