Underappreciated Mariners Players: Franklin Gutierrez

Welcome to our Underappreciated Seattle Mariners Players series! To kick it off, we are starting with former Seattle outfielder Franklin Gutierrez.

“Guti” spent seven seasons in the PNW and was personally one of my favorite players while he was on the team. The Venezuelan native joined the Mariners as part of a huge three-team trade right before the end of 2008

We received Endy Chaves, Aaron Heilman, Maikel Cleto, Ezequiel Carrerra, Mike Carp, and Jason Vargas from the New York Mets. Seattle sent J.J. Putz, Sean Green, and Jeremy Reed to the Mets, and Luis Valbuena to Cleveland. The Mets also sent Joe Smith to Cleveland, and we received Franklin Gutierrez from Cleveland.

Guti just came off of his best season where he batted .283 and hit 18 home runs.

Franklin Gutierrez’s Seattle Mariners career

In his first season in Seattle (2010), he played 152 games and was decent on offense. He batted .245 and hit 12 home runs. The offensive numbers aren’t eye-opening, but he won his first and only Gold Glove Award in a Mariners uniform.

Guti struggled to stay on the field consistently due to injuries, but when he was playing, he was one of the best players to watch. That first season in a Seattle uniform was the only season where he played more than 100 games.

In 2011, he played 92 games. And 40 in 2012, and 41 in 2013.

And in 2014, Guti decided to step away from the game because his gastrointestinal problems relapsed. But after taking a year off, he wanted to test his chances and signed a minor league deal with Seattle.

In his return, he would bat .292 and hit 15 home runs. He was able to do that all in 59 games. Guti’s Mariners career would end after the 2016 season where he hit .246 and hit 14 home runs in 98 games.

During Franklin Gutierrez’s seven-season career in the PNW, he accumulated 74 home runs, 268 RBIs, 61 stolen bases, and a .257/.312/.409 slash line. He also put together a 10.2 oWAR and 3.2 dWAR which is quite impressive.

Guti won’t be a Mariners Hall of Fame member, but he deserves more recognition in my opinion. He provided Mariners fans with some great clutch moments and battled nagging injuries to try and stay on the field.

For some reason, the Mariners have had a long history of bringing in outstanding center fielders and Franklin Gutierrez was one of them.

Franklin Gutierrez is still close with the Mariners organization, I recently saw his name in the Seattle Times. Ryan Divish reports that Guti will be a Special Assignment Coach alongside other familiar names like Alvin Davis, Dan Wilson and Mike Cameron.