3 Mariners players fighting for their futures heading into the 2024 season

Luis Urias needs to prove himself in camp after showing up in "Less than stellar shape"

Urias is a former top prospect, and Dipoto loves to acquire these types of players as legit bounce-back candidates. He has had a few hits and misses with these types of players, but this is a solid risk to take. Urias was a very good infielder for the Brewers just two years ago, posting a 110 wRC+ in 2022 with 16 home runs. The year before he put up a 112 wRC+ with 23 home runs, posting back-to-back years of two-plus win seasons.

Urias was pretty bad in 2023, though he only played in 52 games because of injuries. He posted just an 83 wRC+ with three home runs and a -.1 fWAR. Much of this year can be dismissed as an outlier because of a few pretty significant injuries. He will be 27 in June, youth is on his side, and he very well could prove that he can become a big league regular.

The issue the Mariners could have (similar to Geno last year) is that Urias showed up to camp in "less than stellar shape, as Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times put it. Coming off a bad year and looking to prove yourself with a new team, that should be the time you show up in the best shape of your life, ready to prove everyone wrong. For Urias to show up out of shape, and on top of that, apparently injured is setting up to be a frustrating year for the former top prospect. Like France, Urias is only under contract through 2025 and another top prospect, Cole Young, is beating down the door and could very well force Urias off this team if he doesn't prove everyone wrong this year.