Ranking the Best First Baseman in Mariners Team History

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Seattle Mariners John Olerud (R) is congratulated by teammates after his second-inning 2-run home run during their game against the Texas Rangers 17 April 2001. AFP PHOTO/Dan Levine (Photo by DAN LEVINE / AFP) (Photo by DAN LEVINE/AFP via Getty Images) /

I started this off with catchers, and I move over to what be my second favorite position in baseball. There is just something about a good first baseman that is fun to watch. Yeah, you can have a monster out there who hits bombs, but a guy that can swat the ball all over the place AND has a great glove, it just sits differently. I’ll take Jim Thome all day, of course, but when you have that combo, it’s special. Luckily, even if it was a short stretch, the Mariners have had some of those.

This is also a really fun list. All of these guys stand out, and I think as you read each one of them, you’ll have some type of memory pop up.

Maybe it’s Edwin Encarnacion (1.7 fWAR) carrying a pretend parrot around the basepaths. He was a fun guy with the Mariners, even if he wasn’t here for very long, at just 65 games.

Then there’s a couple of 90s guys. Paul Sorrento (3.2 fWAR) came to the M’s for just two seasons, but had the best offensive years of his career, belting 54 home runs and hitting a handful of grand slams. David Segui (3.7 fWAR) came next, and had a career year in 1998, hitting well, and having just a single error at first base that season, although his range was quite poor.

Last, it’s Russell “the muscle” Branyan (3.5 fWAR). He had an incredible 2009 season, hitting a career-high 31 HR with 76 RBI, and a slash line of .251/.347/.520. Unfortunately, as has been the theme with all four of these guys so far, they couldn’t play defense.

There’s actually a tie at 5th for the Mariners in all-time fWAR. One of them was an awful defender, while the other is thought of as a good defender… even though the numbers say different.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – OCTOBER 02: Ty France #23 of the Seattle Mariners looks on during the game against the Los Angeles Angels at T-Mobile Park on October 02, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) /

Mariners Richie Sexson – 4.1

Mariners Ty France – 4.1

Richie Sexson was so much fun to watch. One of the tallest hitters to ever play, Sexson could straight demolish a ball whenever he got a hold of one. I know this wasn’t from the Mariners, but goodness gracious.

That ball reportedly went just over 500 ft, one of the longest home runs in the history of baseball. Sexson never hit one that far, but he did blast a

Grand slam in 2008 against the white sox that went around 470 feet. It was the furthest (that I could find) home run that Sexson hit while on the Mariners. It was his first two years in Seattle where he was more consistently dangerous at the plate. In 2005, his first season with the Mariners, Sexson would put up a 4.0 fWAR, the 6th highest ever by a Mariners first baseman.

He went .263/.369/.541 that year, and actually received some MVP votes If not for some negative years at the end of his career, he would’ve been higher on the list by a few more WAR. All I’ve mentioned so far is his offense, because the defense was really bad. You kind of expect it from a 6’8” first baseman with back problems.

Sexson was a 26.3 on Offense and a -61.3 on defense, which amounts to a 4.1 fWAR in Seattle. Those first two years were pretty great though, with numbers of 42.7 on offense and -23.3 on defense.

He is actually tied at 4.1 with Ty France, a fact that is sure to change as France keeps playing. His bat does seem to be special, and he has a chance, depending on how long he plays in Seattle, to push for the top of the list. He was a 3.5 in 2021, the 10th highest fWAR for a season from a first baseman.

If he can avoid getting hurt from all the HBP’s he takes, he should have a few more entries in the top 10 by the time he finishes up here. Hopefully, a lot more. It’s his defense that confuses me though. You hear it on broadcasts, from fans, and on the internet that France is a great defender. However, you can look at either Baseball-Reference or Fangraphs, and they both have him as a negative. So, what gives? Well, I asked a fellow by the name of Dan Szymborski about it.

“DEF includes the positional adjustment; pretty much any 1B is going to be negative there.”

He also told me to look at UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) or BIZ/RZR (Balls in Zone/Revised Zone Rating) instead. It’s a massive thing to know and keep in mind. Yeah, the fact that Ty France has a -4.8 on DEF looks bad… until you realize it’s the best score for any first baseman in the league in 2021.

Thinking about it, it makes sense. WAR is affected more by power than it is by contact. A First baseman usually has more power and has to do less on defense (the ability to scoop a ball is massively underrated, though). So it’s a nice tradeoff to help even out the field.

France led the league in DEF last year for first baseman, was second in UZR, and was 5th in RZR. I say all this to help us all out. France is a great defender and a great hitter. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

26 Apr 1992: Tino Martinez of the Seattle Mariners watches play during their game against the California Angels at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California. Mandatory Credit: Ken Levine /Allsport /

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.

BALTIMORE, MD – CIRCA 1982: Bruce Bochte #23 of the Seattle Mariners bats against the Baltimore Orioles during an Major League Baseball game circa 1982 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. Bochte played for the Mariners in 1978-82. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Mariners Bruce Bochte – 10.6

“Hey, are you talking about the really successful manager from the Padres and Giants?”

Nope, different guy. That’s Bruce Bochy. Bruce Bochte was the Mariners first baseman from 1978 through 1982. There weren’t a lot of bright points from those early Mariners days, but Bochte was definitely one of them. He was never a good defender, posting negative values every season, although as a first baseman it was still decent. That wasn’t what made him good though.

It was his bat, especially during the 1979 season, his second in Seattle. He would hit 16 HR with 100 RBI while compiling a slash line of .316/.385/.493, and a WRC+ of 133. He did nearly as good in 1980, hitting .300/.381/.456 with a WRC+ of 123. It was good enough to earn him a combined 6.7 fWAR over those two seasons.

Bochte would play two more years in Seattle, still an above-average player, before abruptly retiring in 1983. It was for a respectable, but odd, reason as he was supposedly tired of the business of baseball and the state that the world was in, so he hung it up. He would come back to baseball, but not with the Mariners, and play from 84-86 in Oakland.

You have to wonder if Bochte stuck around, could he have put together a finishing strong stretch to become the best first baseman ever for the Mariners?

Mariners John Olerud – 15.1

Far and away my favorite first baseman for the Mariners (well, until France hopefully passes him after destroying baseballs, hitting .300, and staying healthy for the next 5-10 years), John Olerud was a great Mariner. He came over back in 2000 and would spend 4+ years in Seattle, and put together an extremely consistent run for the Mariners.

He started off with seasons of 3.6, 4.6, and 4.5 (9th, 2nd, 3rd) fWAR, and straight raked while he was here. The defense was still good, but worse than his time with the Mets. Really though, we were seeing the second-best first baseman to ever play for the Mariners, and the greatest three-year stretch that anyone at the position had put together in the team’s history.

Olerud was a big piece of why the Mariners made the playoffs those first two years he was with the team. He hit about .295/.395/.455 over those two seasons with 198 RBI. After some of the big names had left the Mariners, Olerud was there to fill a void, and he did a spectacular job doing it.

I can only imagine how awesome it would’ve been to have Olerud for a decade. From 1993-2002, he had 47 fWAR. We got him towards the end, and it was a lot of fun to watch him. He still takes second fiddle to Mr. Mariner.

Alvin Davis, Designated Hitter and First Baseman for the Seattle Mariners at bat during the Major League Baseball American League East game against the New York Yankees on 18 May 1991 at Yankee Stadium, New York, New York, United States. The Mariners won the game 4 – 1. (Photo by Lonnie Major/Allsport/Getty Images) /

Mariners Alvin Davis – 21.1

That’s right, Mr. Mariner himself is the top first baseman in team history. It all started back with his first season in 1984.

There was so much that happened that season, and I can only imagine how excited Mariners fans were. The team had been around less than a decade, and had seen some good seasons so far. Here comes Alvin Davis, and he puts up the best offensive season that the team had seen through their first 8 seasons.

Not only that, he made his one and only all-star game, won Rookie of the Year, and actually finished 12th in MVP voting that season. For good reason too. With a 5.3 fWAR, he hit .284/.391/.497, 140 WRC+, with 27 home runs, 80 Runs, and 116 RBI. Not only that, it was the best defensive season of his career.

Already, just with that one season, it would be enough to make Alvin Davis the 4th best first baseman in the history of the Mariners throughout their entire history. He would go on to have some more solid seasons with the Mariners, and would amass 21.1 fWAR through eight seasons. Somehow, he hit a wall at 30, and had a negative 1.6. He would play a bit with the Angels the next year, and be out of baseball at 31.

Next. Ranking the Best Catchers in Mariners History. dark

A lot of Mariners fans, even some into their mid-30’s, might not be that familiar with Alvin Davis. His last year was 1991 with the Mariners, and that’s right around the time that the Mariners started becoming more mainstream. I heard they had some Kid who was good. Who knows. Alvin Davis was special though, and a great player for the Mariners throughout the 80s.

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