Seattle Mariners Free Agent Profile: Matt Davidson

Nelson Cruz has officially moved on, signing with the Minnesota Twins Thursday morning. Now, there may be a need to add some power to a Mariners lineup looking to stay competitive in a throwaway year.

In all likelihood, Edwin Encarnación will never make a plate appearance in a Mariners uniform. This leaves Seattle with a severe lack of pop offensively, and while this may be a year to step back, opportunity awaits in the free agent market.

In this case, such opportunity takes the form of former White Sox designated hitter Matt Davidson. The 28-year-old slugger was non-tendered last month, following a 0.8 fWAR season in which he slashed .228/.319/.419 and hit 20 home runs.

Davidson has led an MLB career full of ups and downs. In 2009, Davidson was drafted 35th overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks and made his debut in 2013. He saw action in 31 games that year before being traded to the White Sox for Addison Reed that offseason.

In his first three years in Chicago’s farm system, Davidson struggled to make it out of their Triple-A affiliate and only made one Major League appearance towards the end of the 2016 season. The next year, Davidson made the team out of Spring Training and went on to be a serviceable power bat to come off their bench after hitting 26 home runs and driving in 68 runs total.

Despite an abysmal OBP of .260, Davidson’s power numbers kept him a spot on a bad White Sox roster going into 2017. The power continued to come for Davidson, almost all at once. On Opening Day, Davidson racked up a well-documented three homer, seven RBI game.

Davidson went on to post 20 homers this past season, and got his OBP up significantly to a respectable mark of .319. But career-long defensive struggles have severely limited him, failing to succeed at both third and first base with a career -8.0 UZR/150 combined. Ultimately, he’s been converted to a full-time designated hitter at just 28-years-old and that’s not very attractive for most teams.

However, the Mariners are in such a position to offer Davidson an opportunity to play relatively often. With a hole at designated hitter likely soon to open, and a lack of depth at both third and first, the Mariners have the options – and time – to potentially tap into Davidson’s “boom,” well, potential.

The problem with Davidson is that he profiles rather similarly to a current Mariner: Ryon Healy. Also a first and third base floater with below-average defense, Healy hit 24 home runs and drove in 73 RBIs in 133 games. But Healy’s inability to get on base (.277 OBP) was mind-blowingly frustrating to witness as a fan, and the 26-year-old’s remaining Minor League options make him a solid stash play instead of a starting first baseman or designated hitter in 2019.

As for Davidson, he – like all other potential free agent targets the Mariners may have this offseason – is a strong low-risk, high-reward player that could net some midseason trade value with a solid first few months. Even with the non-tender, defensive question marks, and high strikeout numbers, Davidson will always be somewhat of a commodity if he keeps posting a wRC+ north of 100.

There’s very little risk involved, if any, in the signing of a young player with quite a bit of raw talent. These are the type of players Jerry Dipoto is certainly eyeballing as he looks to fill out his roster for 2019, aiming to give the Mariners more opportunity to continue loading up amidst this retooling.