Rob Refsnyder is ready to solve a serious Mariners problem from 2025

If you watched the 2025 Mariners closely, you know the “problem” wasn’t always the lineup’s top-end talent. It was everything that happened after the first punch.

Seattle spent a ton of last season living in the late-inning margins — platoon moves, pinch-hit spots, matchup games that Dan Wilson had to play because the roster construction basically demanded it. And the more you live in that world, the more you find out whether your bench is a weapon or just a prayer.

In 2025, it was way too often the second one. The Mariners pinch-hit more than anyone (118 times) and got a 62 wRC+ out of those plate appearances.

Rob Refsnyder is set up to clean up a stressful Mariners matchup mess from 2025

Zoom in on the specific flavor of pain that’s relevant here: right-handed pinch hitters coming off the bench to face lefties. Per Stathead, Mariners righty pinch hitters went 9-for-66 (.136) with 0 HR, and the strikeouts (25) swallowed whole at-bats that were supposed to be advantage spots.

It’s not a season-ruining catastrophe in isolation. But it’s definitely the kind of recurring leak that allows good teams to lose more games. 

This is where Rob Refsnyder is such a nice add-on. Refsnyder has basically made a second career out of punishing left-handed pitching, and MLB.com didn’t mince words when Seattle signed him: since 2022, he’s hit .312/.407/.516 against lefties with a 155 wRC+, putting him in rare company among right-handed bats in that split. 

That profile changes the feel of a game for a manager. It’s not only “start him when a lefty starts.” It’s the exact spot where 2025 Seattle kept coming up empty.

Wilson’s going to have a lineup that can skew lefty in a hurry. Dominic Canzone. Luke Raley. Cole Young. And depending on the night and the matchup dance, even Josh Naylor and J.P. Crawford are in the conversation for late moves if an opponent is aggressively hunting platoon edges.

That’s a lot of potential pinch-hit action even before you count the starts Refsnyder will get.

So when Refsnyder talks about being ready to face left-handers at a moment’s notice, that’s not athlete-speak. That’s literally the job description for one of Seattle’s most common, most important in-game situations.

A high-leverage pinch-hit in the 7th or 8th inning is basically a mini postseason at-bat. And in 2025, Seattle asked for those at-bats constantly. Refsnyder won’t fix every offensive question. But he can fix something more specific and more repeatable.

If you’re trying to turn “pretty good” into “wins 92 games instead of 88,” those are exactly the kinds of edges that add up.