Ranking the Best First Baseman in Mariners Team History

Mariners Tino Martinez – 8.7

The Martinez brothers. Not that they actually were, but it’s definitely something that was joked about a lot, and a nickname given to Edgar and Tino Martinez.

Tino actually turned into a pretty good player for the 1995 season. Like most things in the 90s for the Mariners that were good, we didn’t keep him around, and he left for the Yankees (gross, but good for him to get some titles I guess). Starting his career in 1990 with the Mariners, Tino would finally get real playing time in 1992, after just 203 PA through his first two seasons.

He wasn’t great that year, but still managed a 0.9 fWAR. He jumped that up, and turned the defense around, over the next two years with pretty good seasons. It was 1995 though that he played at an All-Start equivalent level. .293/.369/.551, 31 HR, 92 R, 111 RBI, and a WRC+ of 130. A 23.0 on offense and a 2.7 on defense comes out to a 4.5 fWAR, and a tie for the third-best season by a first baseman in team history.

Another part of his success was a 10.5% BB rate, the highest in his career to that point. Tino also had a .300 BABIP, which showed that he should be able to continue to hit in the high 200s, even if there could be the potential for a little fall off. Unfortunately, we missed out on an incredible run he put together in the Bronx, and it leaves Tino as the 4th best first baseman in team history.