Getting to know some of the lesser known Seattle Mariners

Depending on the day, you could tune into the Mariners game and see a couple of players that you are unfamiliar with. There is a multitude of reasons for it.

Maybe it’s the fact that we have had a fair amount of injuries this season to the team. Especially when it comes to the pitching staff, and more emphatically, the bullpen.

That’s not even what I wanted to get into though. I wanted to talk more about the offense and the kind of names that you might see in the lineup.

Nottingham. Godoy. Walton. Campbell. Mayfield. They’re all lesser-name Mariners that have played their part this season.

Let’s start off with Nottingham. He’s made his rounds this season, and I hope he has some kind of frequent flier status to take advantage of it. He was in Milwaukee, and was claimed by the Mariners after being designated for assignment. Just a few days later, the Brewers needed a catcher, and asked for Nottingham back. The Mariners sent him there for cash, and he blasted two home runs in his first game back. Milwaukee designated him again, and Seattle claimed him, again.

Then we have Jose Godoy. He had the distinction of being the 20,000th player in MLB history to make an appearance. When many Mariners fans heard that a AAA catcher was going to be called up, they thought it would be Cal Raleigh. Instead, it was Godoy, and the 26-year-old has done a fine job after taking ten years to finally get to the majors.

Donovan Walton has been up a few times before, but never for very long. He was actually a part of the taxi squad earlier this year for the first of the back-to-back doubleheaders against the Orioles. Since getting called up, he has hit .200, providing fill-ins at multiple positions across the diamond, and cranked his first career home run in Monday’s game against Oakland.

Eric Campbell is a longtime journeyman, as the 34-year-old hasd not appeared in the majors since 2014/15/16 with the Mets. With a multitude of injuries in the Mariners infield, they needed a guy that wouldn’t get flustered, and brought up Campbell to fill a short time void.

Lastly, we have Jack Mayfield, who is just filling time until Moore comes back. He’s been around the AL West a bit, having played in both Houston and LA with Anaheim. A career .160 hitter, he’s still below that number, hitting just .136 with the Mariners.

It’s not like any of these guys are in line to be anything special, but it would be great to see one of them surprise us. Godoy was hitting fantastically in AAA, and Walton seems to be on the verge of becoming a solid middle infielder who can bounce around a bit ala Willie Bloomquist.