Mariners' first offseason move is for a 25-homer slugger with a ton of questions

The Mariners made a somewhat surprise move on Friday, by claiming Michael Toglia off waivers from the Reds. He had been on the 60-day Injured List since Sept. 4 due to a right shoulder dislocation, but there was no report of him being placed on waivers. Irrespective, there is some intrigue surrounding the 28-year-old, but also plenty of uncertainty.

For those who are a fan of local connections, Toglia attended high school in Gig Harbor, Washington. He would eventually be selected 23rd overall in the 2019 draft by the Rockies and at one point was their No. 3 prospect, but save for an impressive 2024 campaign in Colorado has not panned out as anticipated. Still, the Mariners will be hoping the player who hit 25 home runs during that 2024 season is still capable of re-emerging.

One of the many obstacles facing Toglia is that he's only known hitter-friendly parks at the Major League level, with the Rockies between 2022-25 and the Reds this season. The Mariners of course, play in the almost-cavernous T-Mobile Park. His home-road splits are almost as expected during his five years of big league action:

Now it only seems fair to add that Toglia actually has 27 home runs and 57 RBI on the road compared to 15 and 52 respectively at home. However, as the table indicates, his overall stats allude to a player who has struggled to make his mark in the majors, save for the aforementioned 2024 season when he recorded the only positive bWAR of his big league career to date, at 2.1.

Michael Toglia has enticing assets, but will he finally put it all together with the Mariners?

Toglia does at least offer some enticing assets, as a raw power switch-hitter with size and defensive versatility. However, past evidence seems to indicate an emergency depth player who will mostly be based in the minors. For what it's worth he's been very productive in the lower levels with a career .865 OPS, which includes an extremely impressive .930 OPS across five seasons of Triple-A action.

First things first though, Toglia needs to recover from the right shoulder dislocation which ended his 2026 season. It helps that he has a seemingly strong mental fortitude, with Reds manager Terry Francona marvelling about how the Phoenix, Arizona native reacted to the injury. As per Mark Sheldon of MLB.com, Francona said:

"That kid, he swore he was going to play. When I saw him in the trainer’s room the next day, he was trying to do stuff. That’s pretty amazing to me."

Terry Francona

With that kind of attitude, maybe there's still some hope yet for Toglia to carve out a career in the majors. At the very least the Mariners have a player capable of raking for them in Tacoma, albeit with the potential complication of him being out of minor league options. We wish him all the best.

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