Mariners fans surprised to learn team apparently has MLB's most underrated DH

When it comes to baseball and indeed professional sports in general, there are always going to be players (and teams) who are considered underrated. At least you hope Seattle Mariners fans agree with this sentiment given MLB.com's unveiling of their 2026 All-Underrated Team, which includes two M's players.

The first Mariners player Anthony Castrovince included is shortstop J.P. Crawford, who has proven to be a polarizing individual at times during his tenure in Seattle. However, as Castrovince points out, the 31-year-old's 108 OPS+ since 2021 is third among all shortstops with at least 700 games and 50 percent of appearances at the position.

You're not going to get any disagreement from us, given that last week we ourselves named Crawford as one of three Mariners who are underrated heading into the 2026 season. (And that's despite last season being the second-best statistical campaign of his nine years in the majors.) However, it's the other M's player named by Castrovince who has caught us off-guard, in Dominic Canzone at DH.

A breakout year for the Mariners

On a peripheral level, we can acknowledge that Canzone did better than expected last season for the Mariners. He produced a whole host of career bests in his third year in the majors, including a 1.6 bWAR, .300/.358/.481 slash line, .840 OPS and 142 OPS+ in 269 plate appearances over 82 games.

However, what really boosted Canzone's season is what he did during September, when he had single -month bests of a .365/.414/.635 slash line and 1.048 OPS. Significantly, it wasn't until September when he started at DH for the first time last season, going on to make eight appearances at the position.

That first 2025 appearance at DH versus the Kansas City Royals on Sep. 16 was insane, as Canzone went 5-for-5 and had the first three-homer game of his professional career. However, it proved to the peak of his season and he went on to be a significant disappointment during the M's playoff run, going just 3-for-28 with a solitary RBI in 10 games.

Is Dominic Canzone really that underrated?

Even Castrovince himself almost seems to be second-guessing his decision to name Canzone as DH, referencing his really small sample size last season. This is followed up by a 'confession' of sorts, as he said:

"... honestly, it is possible that, as an Italian-American from Northeast Ohio (same as Canzone), I am overrating him. But after seeing this awesome T-shirt he wore for BP, I’m OK with it. Keep swinging, my Cleveland-born paisan! "

Anthony Castrovince

To be clear, we're not complaining about Canzone and by extension the Mariners getting some love. In truth though if we're being objective, it should have been the Tigers’ Kerry Carpenter or Iván Herrera of the Cardinals who Castrovince selected to be DH on his team.

Carpenter in particular is someone who haunts the Mariners and their fans while also receiving the utmost of respect, due to his stunning performance in Game 5 of last season's ALDS. Although the M's ultimately won 3-2 after 15 gruelling innings, he reached base six times in a sensational individual effort to tie for the most ever by a player in a postseason game.

Canzone has never lacked for confidence, but sometimes it could be frustrating to watch the way he carried himself despite not producing the results on the field until last season. Now, it's a case of proving he can continue to be consistently effective, especially if he gets increased opportunities to play at DH.