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Mariners Infield: 2024 1st Quarter Grade: D+
There's been a lot of bad in the infield so far for the Mariners in 2024. Jorge Polanco is one of the worst hitting second baseman in baseball so far. He was leading the league in strikeouts before he went down with a hamstring injury. He did have a nice walk rate, but a BA under .200 and a SLG just barely above .300 is not going to cut it.
While we thought big things were in store for Ty France, April was not kind to him, nor was he showing actual improvement. His defense still isn't great at first base, and the slash line wasn't enough to give fans hope of seeing him succeed, leading to a lot of curiousity about if France would be replaced by a prospect like Tyler Locklear, or if the Mariners would look to trade for someone. He's hit two homers recently, but needs to keep improving if he wants to keep his job.
JP Crawford has been one of the bigger disappointments on the team, as fans hoped 2023 wasn't just a fluke. Before being injured, Crawford was slashing just .198/.296/.302. Hopefully his time off will help him get right, and we will see a return to form.
Luis Urias has been awful. He's hitting .154 with an exit velo of 84.7 mph, which is 3.7 mph below league average. I have no patience here, especially with Josh Rojas absolutely crushing it this year. He's the saving grace of the infield, holding them up with his .330/.395/.482 slash line. He will come back down to earth a bit, but is hitting the ball harder than ever before and is the saving grace of the Mariners lineup.
Let's throw Garver in here as another hitter who seems lost. Too many of these guys have batting averages that start with a 1, and Garver looks like Joey Gallo at the plate. Five homers, six doubles, and 10 singles with a K rate of 32.9%. Even Raleigh, with his .218 batting average, is doing enough damage with having 10 homers and a walk rate of 10.7%, giving good offensive value with a 120 OPS+. It's an ugly infield overall, and needs to get better for the Mariners to succeed.