Brendan Donovan has already mastered playing to Mariners fans' emotions

There are a multitude of reasons for Seattle Mariners fans to like last month's trade acquisition Brendan Donovan, aside from the fact he's a very talented player who's coming off his first All-Star selection. Among other things he's versatile, disciplined and hard working — all assets which help make him the definition of a prototype teammate.

However, what must really sit well with the Mariners fanbase is Donovan heaping fawning praise on their beloved team. We recently wrote about how it almost seems like everyone is trying to force fan favorite status on the 2018 seventh-round draft pick by talking him up, but irrespective he's already mastered the art of playing to their emotions.

For a start, Donovan has said: "This team's good man. This team is as close to a World Series as I've seen any Seattle team." Then there's the recent interview on Seattle Sports with Brock Huard and Mike Salk, when he continued to wax lyrical over the Mariners:

At the same time, Donovan is also being cautious and not trying to overstep any boundaries, as he focuses on getting to know his new teammates. As per Brent Stecker of Seattle Sports, when talking about sticking around in the dugout even after leaving the recent Cactus League game versus the White Sox, he said:

"I’m new here. I’m trying to see how people play, talk to and build relationships on a personal level, and I feel that’s important to do in the dugout too. I believe in getting to know someone as a person too and then you get to know them as a player as well. That’s an area I tried to lean into today. I’m glad I was able to hang out a little later."

Brendan Donovan

Clearly the general vibe is that Donovan is truly excited to be in Seattle, with him being extremely talkative and taking seemingly every opportunity to give Mariners fans the validation they crave. At the same time, a lot of people will find this intriguing, just because the general perception is that he wasn't this vocal during his time in St. Louis.

Brendan Donovan's continuing evolution as a leader

However, the reality is that this is just the latest stage of Donovan's evolution into becoming a true leader, which started a few seasons ago. As per John Denton of MLB.com, given his ability to play at so many positions on the field with authority, the Cardinals believed this gave the 2022 Gold Glove winner the necessary status to shoulder more of a leadership role.

What made this more impressive is that Donovan was given this responsibility in a Cardinals clubhouse that at the time included the likes of Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Sonny Gray. His ability to be able to command respect around such notable players speaks volumes about his character.

As per Katie Woo of The Athletic, one of the things Donovan started doing was making rookies feel more welcome — a nice touch for young men who more often than not are feeling nervous ahead of making their Major League debut. One of his traditions is to present the call-up with a bottle of Ace of Spades gold champagne, signed by every player on the active roster that day.

For Donovan it's all about building a culture, which must be music to the ears of Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez, who have been doing just this during the past few seasons as they themselves have evolved into leaders in Seattle. On the evidence of everything we've seen and heard to date, the 29-year-old is fitting in very nicely and this can only give the Mariners faithful even more reason to be excited by his presence.