Mariners Pick An Awkward Time to Call Up Their Hottest Prospect

The Seattle Mariners have been very inconsistent in 2025 and have battled multiple injuries to key players. One player who has had it especially bad is Luke Raley.

Raley had been mysteriously out of the lineup for the past five games and, since it is the peak of trade deadline season, some fans speculated if he was sitting out because he was being discussed in trade talks. However, it turns out that Raley has been dealing with back spasms and is now on the injured list as a result.

The Mariners have called up Tyler Locklear to take Raley's spot on the roster, but the first base prospect doesn't seem to be a perfect fit right now.

It's hard to see how Tyler Locklear fits on the Mariners right now

Following one of the biggest trades of the season, Josh Naylor is locked in as the Mariners' every day first baseman. The Mariners acquired him for the final stretch of the season, so they will want to get the most they can out of him, which doesn't leave much room at all for Locklear at the cold corner.

In the minor leagues, Locklear has been exclusively a first baseman the past three years after playing some third base out of college. However, he has been on an absolute tear in the month of July and most recently this past week as he earned Player of the Week honors in the Pacific Coast League. Even in a hitter-friendly league, he dominated this past week as the Rainiers were at home in Tacoma, where Locklear went on a 9-for-9 streak.

For the month of July so far, Locklear is slashing .422/.490/.807 with nine home runs. That is a fantastic month from the 24-year-old. He will hopefully be able to bring that same level of production to the big leagues, yet it is still unclear how much playing time he will get right away.

He can only play first base and DH, so maybe he takes DH at bats from Mitch Garver. That might not be a bad thing if Locklear can bring some of his momentum with him from Tacoma to Seattle.

Overall, the Mariners and the rest of the league is in a weird period as the trade deadline is coming up and multiple players on every team could either be traded or replaced due to another trade. This could mean a new Mariner is acquired to fill the spot on the roster that Locklear has right now, or Locklear could find himself traded to a new team.

We will have to wait and see how the final hours of this trade deadline season turn out. It won't be until Friday that we'll have a good sense for what the Mariners roster will look like for the final stretch of the season.