Luke Raley
Luke Raley was brought over from the Tampa Bay Rays in a trade earlier this offseason. The Mariners ended up sending Jose Caballero to the Rays for Raley. Cabby played a huge role for the Mariners in 2023 but figured to lose some playing time with the team wanting to upgrade second base. Raley is a first base/corner outfielder, and maybe one of the most underrated players in the American League.
Raley seemed poised to be apart of a platoon in left field this year, The Mariners already had a ton of left-handed corner outfielders, but Raley could be better than them all. In 2023, Raley hit .249/.333/.490/.824 with an OPS+ of 126 in 118 games. He also hit 19 home runs and stole 14 bases. Raley has 20/20 potential, something the Mariners would be salivating over.
He comes with some strikeout issues, as he struck out in 32.2% of his career at-bats. While that seems like the norm for Mariners fans, the front office made a serious point to try and cut down on strikeouts this offseason. This Spring, it is much of the same, as Luke has been striking out a clip much higher than the team wants to see.
It is not just the strikeouts though, he is just plain struggling this Spring. His numbers jumped after their final game against the Cubs, as Raley had a double and a triple, driving in 3. It still only brought his numbers up to .175/.267/.250. While we all think he will be better than that in the regular season, other lefty-hitting outfielders are having a good Spring. Dominic Canzone, Taylor Trammell, and Cade Marlowe are all having a better statistical Spring than Raley.
I am sure that Luke Raley will turn it around. But he has not won any new fans with the poor performance, at least not yet. While nobody expects him to be the next Julio or anything, if the Mariners are contenders at all, Luke Raley will need to be a key contributor this season and beyond.