Josh Naylor's secret sauce for stolen bases is why Mariners fans love him

When the Seattle Mariners swung a deal for Josh Naylor at the trade deadline, fans already knew what kind of player they were getting. A pure masher. A grinder. A guy who plays with an edge and never hides it. Naylor is the textbook example of the type of player you despise when he’s on the other team; not because of the bat flips or chirping, but because he’s good enough to back it all up.

Now that he’s in Seattle, Mariners fans are soaking it in. The second half of 2025 hasn’t just been about adding a slugger to the middle of the order, it’s been about discovering the bonus prize: a potential 20-20 version of Josh Naylor.

Josh Naylor’s fearless approach is turning him into Seattle’s ultimate fan favorite

Chad Jennings of The Athletic summed it up best: over the past month, Naylor has swiped 11 bases, the second-most in the majors during that stretch. To put that in perspective, that’s the same total as Elly De La Cruz, Jarren Duran, and Pete Crow-Armstrong combined.

How does a player built like Naylor (5-foot-10, 235 pounds) suddenly become one of the most efficient thieves in the game? He explained it himself to Jennings:

“I think it’s about not being afraid to fail. Not being afraid to take a chance. That’s big for me. I try not to think about failure. Try not to think about, ‘What if I do this?’ I just like to play baseball, play hard.”

That mentality is exactly why Mariners fans are all in on him. In an era where the sport often feels reduced to exit velocity and velocity readings — what you might call “showcase baseball” — Naylor is bringing back the instincts, grit, and in-the-moment daring that make the game unpredictable. He doesn’t just swing for the fences. He puts pressure on defenses, he hustles, and he forces opponents to react.

And the impact is showing up everywhere. Naylor has already posted 1.1 WAR since arriving in Seattle, compared to just 0.8 WAR across his time with Arizona earlier this season. The Mariners clearly didn’t just acquire a slugger at the deadline, they landed a game-changer who embodies exactly what fans want to see. Fearless baseball.

It’s that perfect mix of power and daring that makes Josh Naylor the kind of player you hate to face but love to claim as your own. And right now, Mariners fans can’t get enough of him.