Seattle Mariners: A History of Recent First Baseman in Seattle

The Mariners in recent years have had trouble keeping the same first baseman beyond a couple of seasons. This year could be different if Ryon Healy starts at first base for the Mariners.  The position could be in a good spot in the future either with Ryon Healy continues to improve or Evan White turns into more than a prospect.

Evan White already looks to be a good defensive first baseman however can he hit in the major leagues? I am sure we will find out in the next couple of years. If White does turn out to be the real thing the Mariners will move Ryon Healy to designated hitter on a regular basis with an occasional start at first unless Dipoto decides to trade him.

Another option would be to have him play at third base as well. This would depend whether Kyle Seager continues to digress or not. Seager should be in the prime of his career however he hasn’t played at the same level the last couple years though his defense has been good. We will get more into that at another time.

It seems to me the Mariners have had trouble at first base almost in the same manner as catcher having someone near par with Dan Wilson. We can say the same thing about leftfield as well. My memory has to get back in order but the Mariners have had trouble keeping a good first baseman since I would say Tino Martinez in 1995.

Back in the day, the Mariners felt they couldn’t afford to keep Tino so traded him to the New York Yankees where he had a nice career for several years. Oh yes, I do remember, the Mariners did have John Olerud for a few years. He had a great bat along with being a solid defender. Also, it didn’t hurt he grew up in the Seattle area and went to WSU.  So maybe the problem at first base happened when Olerud was gone.

Olerud played full seasons with the Mariners from 2000 thru 2003. He played 78 games in 2004 for the Mariners before going to the New York Yankees. In 2000 he drove in 103 runs and 2002 he had 102 RBI. In 2001 he drove in 95 runs. All pretty good for someone who wasn’t considered a power hitter.

In 1996 the Mariners did have Paul Sorrento at first base and he had a solid season hitting .289 with 23 home runs and 93. In 1997 he had another good year hitting .269 with 31 home runs and 80 runs.

I have to admit when I am wrong prior to Olerud and after Tino Martinez, the Mariners did have some good first baseman. In 1998 they had David Segui the son of pitcher Diego Segui who started the first game in the history of the Seattle Mariners. David hit .305 in 1998 with 19 home runs and 84 RBI. In 1999 Segui hit .293 but only played 90 games with 9 home runs and 39 RBI; after that started the Olerud era.

When Olerud left for New York in 2004 to play for the Yankees the Mariners had Bucky Jacobsen playing some first base. He played in 42 games with 9 home runs and 28 runs batted with a .275 batting average. A very solid number for those amount of games and he was popular with the fans.

In 2005 the Mariners signed another local product in Richie Sexson. So you could say the Bucky Jacobsen era was short lived. Sexson had two great years with the Mariners in 2005 where he hit .263 with 39 home runs and 121 RBI. The following season his stats almost matched where he hit .264 with 34 home runs and 107 RBI.

In 2006 Sexson went into a slump where he batted .205 with 21 home runs and 63 RBI. His last season with the Mariners 2008 he played in 74 games with a .218 batting average with 11 home runs and 30 RBI before they shipped him off to the New York Yankees to end the season and his career.  The last two season were so bad the Mariner fans forgot how good he was the first two seasons they thought of him as a free agent bust.

The Seattle Mariners brought on Russell Branyan as first baseman in 2009. He had a solid season at the plate, although his defense was not considered good. He batted .251 with 31 home runs and 76 rbi’s. He returned the following year 2010 however he was used as the DH. The Mariners brought on Casey Kotchman as the first baseman. He played solid defense but was not a power hitter. Also, he batted only .217 with nine home runs and 51 RBI.

The same year began the Justin Smoak era. While with the Mariners he too was like Kotchman where he played good defense but his offense was not what the Mariners were hoping for. Very similar to Mike Zunino he came up too early. Smoak played in 30 games hitting .239 with five home runs and 14 RBI.

Justin Smoak was the Mariners regular first baseman from 2011 through a partial year in 2014. During that period you could say he was similar to Mike Zunino as a hit or miss. In 2011 he hit 15 home runs with 55 RBI, then in 2012, he had 19 home runs with 51 RBI followed by 20 home runs and 50 home runs. In 2013 he had his highest batting average as well at .238.

In 2014 he played in 80 games for the Mariners batting .207 with seven home runs and 30 RBI. Late in the season the Mariners sent him to triple A. After the 2014 season the Mariners decided to release him and he was picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Mariners tried again to get a first baseman who could stick around for a while in Logan Morrison however he lasted two seasons. When Jerry Dipoto became general manager he traded him to Tampa Bay Rays after the 2015 season.

In 2014 Morrison shared first base with Justin Smoak. He played in 99 games with a batting average of .262 along with 11 home runs and 38 RBI. In 2015 with Smoak no longer on the team, Morrison had a disappointing batting average of .225 though he had 17 home runs but drove in only 54 runs.

In 2016 with Morrison traded to the Tampa Bay Rays Seattle decided to sign two free agents to platoon at first base. Adam Lind a veteran major leaguer was signed as a left-handed hitter to start against right-handed pitchers. He too had a disappointing average of .239 with 20 home runs and 58 RBI.

The right-handed hitter starting against lefties the Mariners signed Korean slugger Dae-Ho Lee. The Korean Lee was very popular with the fans and the media. He batted a respectable .253 with 14 home runs and 69 RBI. Not bad for a part-time player. Dipoto decided to leave it as a one year experiment though the Mariners had an 86-76 record.

In 2017, Seattle acquired Danny Valencia from the Oakland A’s. He played in 130 games for the Mariners batting only .256 with 15 home runs and 66 RBI. In August the Mariners acquired Yonder Alonso from the A’s. The Mariners were hoping he would help them get into the playoffs however it didn’t happen. In 42 games he hit .265 with six home runs and 18 RBI.

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Alonso didn’t play as well with the Mariners as he did with Oakland. As far as power goes, he was having a career year with the A’s hitting 22 home runs, however, didn’t work out with the Mariners. Both he and Valencia both left as free agents.

In 2018 the Mariners decided to go the route of acquiring another first baseman from the Oakland A’s in Ryon Healy. His first two years in Oakland he had solid numbers however the A’s had Matt Olson to be the everyday first baseman so he really didn’t have a spot with the A’s as they had Khris Davis as the regular designated hitter. In 2016 Healy primarily DH in 72 games he batted .305 with 13 home runs and 37 RBI. In 2017 he split time at first base, third base, and DH.

He had a solid first full season in the major leagues batting .271 with 25 home runs and 78 RBI. In his first season with the Mariners in 2018 he still had the power numbers with 24 home runs and 73 RBI but his batting average went down to .235. His defense at first base was better than most expected. There was thought going into 2019 that Ryon Healy may split time at first base with Robinson Cano because Dee Gordon was going to be the regular second baseman. However, Seattle decided to trade Cano to the New York Mets.

Healy once again is the regular first baseman however he could platoon with Jay Bruce who they picked up in the Cano trade. Now with Nelson Cruz gone as well, the thought was both could spend time at DH as well but in another trade, the Mariners picked up Edwin Encarnacion as the DH. There is a possibility before or during the season the Mariners could trade Healy, Bruce, and Encarnacion.

The future first baseman in waiting is #5 prospect Evan White first-round draft pick by the Mariners in 2017. He is very athletic so Seattle could make him an outfielder as well though it is not in the plans right now. He won the minor league gold glove at first base in 2018. His defense is outstanding so the Mariners would like to keep him at the position however he hasn’t shown power which is usually found at first base.

He is only 22 years old so his power could still come. At High-A Modesto, White hit a solid .303 batting average with 11 home runs and 66 home runs. He could be another John Olerud though he bats right-handed. White likely will start the season at Double-A.

There is a possibility we could see him in a Mariner uniform in 2020 however the Mariners will let him go at his own rate and not bring him up too early. Unlike his predecessor’s, we hope White can be around for ten years.

Although the Mariners have had decent numbers out of their first basemen over the last decade they have found a reason not to keep anyone for the long term whether it is picking up veterans or someone like Justin Smoak who they thought had potential but didn’t allow him to mature in the minor leagues. We hope things lies well for the Mariners at first base.