Ranking the Best Shortstops in Seattle Mariners History

As you move around the infield for the Mariners, there isn’t a lot of reasonable debate about who the greatest is. Sure, you can have little ones at third if you want to talk about Beltre being an all-timer, or how Edgar should be counted. You can argue Boone vs Cano at second. Maybe you want Olerud over Davis.

Even throughout the lists, there just isn’t much wiggle room. Guys seem to fall into tiers, and you can go from there. If you’re stubborn and don’t want to separate favorite from greatest, there will also be arguments, but as Samuel Clemens said…

“Never argue with an idiot. You’ll never convince the idiot that you’re correct, and bystanders won’t be able to tell who’s who.”

When it comes to shortstops though, hopefully, there will be some good and appropriate discussion. Not for the top shortstop (should be obvious), but for two through five. I feel that when things are close, that’s when you can put a bit of favoritism or personality into the argument.

Before we get to those top 5 though, we need to look at the guys who just barely missed the cut.

Danny Tartabull (2.1 fWAR) was a nice young SS for the Mariners, but they traded him away after a couple of seasons. They could’ve used him for 1987 and 88, but Omar Vizquel came along in 89, so it’s not all bad.

Craig Reynolds (2.3) was the Mariners first shortstop and second all-star, making it in the 1978 season. He played well that year, hitting .292/.336/.374, but was traded for Floyd Bannister to bolster the Mariners pitching staff. He would do quite well in four seasons with the team, amassing a 13.2 fWAR. Big win for the Mariners there.

We finally get to a trio of guys that more fans will be familiar with. Yuniesky Betancourt (2.9), Brendan Ryan (4.3), and Brad Miller (4.7). Betancourt never walked much but played well in his first two full seasons. Ryan hit well his first year and was awful after, but played great defense while he was here, with a UZR of 10.6 and 12.1.

Then there was Brad Miller (4.9). We sent him to Tampa, he hit 30 bombs and is still a decent player. He had some good early seasons in Seattle though and actually ended up just shy of a 5.0 fWAR with the team.

And who can forget about the man with a stat named after him, Mario Mendoza? He’s the reason for the “Mendoza Line“, or hitting under 200. He had one of the worst seasons you’ll ever see in 1979, going .198/.216/.249 in 401 PAs for the Mariners. He had a -1.3 fWAR that season, saved only by his strong defense.

Mariners #5: Jean Segura – 6.6 fWAR

Back in November of 2016, the Mariners shipped off Taijuan Walker and Ketel Marte for Mitch Haniger and Jean Segura. The trade looks even better now knowing that the Mariners have JP Crawford to man shortstop, who is under control for a few more years and is also five years younger than Segura.

Oddly enough, both players have amassed a 5.7 fWAR since being traded.

Segura’s best season with the Mariners was his second and final one in 2018. He looked to be back on track to being the player that had put up multiple 4.0+ fWAR seasons in his career. There was a bit of discontent and unknown with Segura after a closed-door fight supposedly sprawled through the doors and into the eyes of the media.

He would turn in a slash line of .304/.341/.415, making it three straight years with a batting average of .300 or higher for Segura. He still had a bit of speed as he swiped 20 bases, and just barely turned in the third-best offensive season of his career. It was a bit better on defense, trailing only his rookie year. At 3.7 fWAR, it was actually the highest fWAR by a non Alex Rodriguez shortstop in Mariners history.

It seemed like the Mariners traded him at the perfect time, acquiring someone who had the potential to become a long-term Franchise Shortstop. Segura was a Mariner for only two seasons but did quite well in his time here.

Mariners #4: Omar Vizquel – 8.6 fWAR

When you think of Omar Vizquel (on the baseball field, I’m not getting into the supposed other stuff), you think of the barehanded plays, the great glovework, and the fact that he was an all-timer on defense.

Sure, maybe some of the flash played into it, but he was definitely incredible. What many people may not realize is that he may have been at his best while he was in Seattle. The bat was never anything good, but the glove was incredible.

Stats were a bit different back then for defense, but a good measuring tool is TZ (Total Zone in Runs above average). They stopped using it in 2001 because they had better tools available, but it is a good indicator of ability for the previous millennia. When you get to a “15” that’s gold glove caliber.

After Vizquel’s rookie year in 1989, he would turn in 13, 14, 13, 16 for TZ. It makes sense why he won gold gloves all the time. His best year in Seattle came in 1992, and it’s no contest. He would amass a 3.4 fWAR thanks to a .294/.340/.352 slash line with 15 steals and a paltry 7.2% K rate. It may not seem like much, but it’s the second-highest non A-Rod fWAR in M’s history at short.

It sure would’ve been nice to keep Vizquel around, but some kid named Alex took over at shortstop for him.

Mariners #2: JP Crawford – 5.5 fWAR

According to Fangraphs, JP Crawford is 3.1 fWAR behind Omar Vizquel for second-place in the team’s history at SS. That’s the exact number that he had in 2021, and he projected out to a 2.97 in 2020 if he played a full season. He will be entering his age-27 season in 2022, and it’s widely accepted that ages 27-29 are a player’s prime.

Is it that hard to imagine that 2022 will be his best season yet?

I’m not saying he is going to go out there and drop a 7.0 fWAR or anything crazy like that. However, if we checked back at the end of the 2024 season to see that Crawford had combined for a 10-15 fWAR over those three years, I don’t think it would surprise anyone.

He’s showing more power, the ability to hit a bunch of doubles, and his batting average keeps going up. If the Mariners end up with a dangerous lineup (a real possibility), then there are going to be more opportunities all over. Not only would Crawford have a chance for a few more RBI, but I think he has a real chance at eclipsing 100 R this season. It’s starting to get too much into a 2022 expectations article, so let’s look at last year instead.

2021 was the first year of Crawford’s career that he was above a 100 WRC+ (He was 103). He also just missed getting into the positive OFF ranking on FanGraphs, with -0.2. As always, Crawford shined defensively, ranking 5th in DRS and 2nd in OOZ (out of zone plays). It was a big reason he had a 3.1 fWAR last year, the 3rd best non A-Rod mark ever.

If you’re wondering why I keep saying non A-Rod mark, well…

Mariners #1: Alex Rodriguez – 35 fWAR

2000 – 9.5 fWAR

1996 – 9.2 fWAR

1998 – 7.9 fWAR

1999 – 4.7 fWAR

1997 – 4.3 fWAR

Not only are those the top five fWAR seasons for shortstops in the history of the Seattle Mariners, they also all belong to Alex Rodriguez. He has two seasons, on their own, that is a higher number than any other shortstop in team history has accrued.

The only discussion that I can see for A-Rod is which season was his best? I talked about it a bit in the best seasons in Mariners history, so I’ll re-visit it here. That article was with baseball-reference WAR, and I’m using Fangraphs here, so the numbers are a little bit different. They still say that 2000 was his best season, but I’m not giving it to 2000. I’m giving it to 1996. Do you wanna know why?

A-Rod was only 20 years old. I can’t imagine being that productive at anything at 20. A lot of people are struggling through their first job, or trying to figure out what they want to major in as they make their way through their sophomore year of college.

Alex Rodriguez was leading the league in Batting Average, Total Bases, 2Bs, and runs. Goodness, gracious. It’s insane.

Oh, he also hit 36 HR and had 123 RBI.

Think about this. Julio Rodriguez turned 21 on December 29th. Alex Rodriguez turned 21 on July 27th of that season. That means it was actually his age-20 season. He accomplished a season like that before Julio will even be in the big leagues. It shows just how impressive it is and how rare it is for a player to accomplish an all-time season like that at such a young age.

For reference, it’s T-110th all-time. It’s also the 5th best mark by someone 21 or younger, and he did it a full season earlier than that at age-20. A-Rod is one of the best to ever do it (from a numbers standpoint) and is easily the best M’s shortstop ever.

What do you think about this list? It’s the first time that I’ve gone against the fWAR rankings, but I think it was warranted. Let me know what you think… and Go Mariners!