Taylor Ward's Mariners tenure is rock bottom for Jerry Dipoto's love of platoons

Taylor Ward is, in fact, still with the Seattle Mariners. He was even a key player toward the end of their extra-innings win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday, albeit in less-than-flattering ways that only added to one of Jerry Dipoto's many whiffs on right-handed platoon bats.

Obviously, Ward's single off Josh Hader after pinch-hitting for Lazaro Montes in the bottom of the ninth was a nice touch. It justified Dan Wilson's opting for the right-on-left matchup in that spot, even if it was another case of Montes being denied the kind of action the Mariners should want to give him.

But then there was the subsequent pickoff. And then, the ill-fated dive on Yainer Díaz's line drive in the top of the 10th. Someone like, say, Victor Robles might have made the out. For Ward, it turned into a go-ahead triple.

It wasn't quite the Full Taylor Ward Experience, but close enough. The bad defense was something we'd all seen before. And even if he did go 1-for-1, that it was a mere single means he still only has one extra-base hit in 100 plate appearances as a Mariner since coming over from the Baltimore Orioles on deadline day.

His OPS+ as a Mariner? Try 11. It's the worst for anyone who's ever taken 100 plate appearances in a Seattle uniform.

Jerry Dipoto's Mariners platoons will continue until morale improves

As you scroll through the list of the worst Mariners hitters ever, certain names start to jump off the page as having something in common.

There's Rob Refsnyder with a 35 OPS+. And A.J. Pollock with a 54 OPS+. Donovan Solano is also there with an 86 OPS+. Heck, throw in Weston Wilson and his 70 OPS+. It's a slew of wreckage that is oddly specific -- right-handed hitters who weren't around long -- but that's the point. By and large, we're speaking about "You had one job" types who didn't do the job they were supposed to do.

Refsnyder, for example, was meant to join forces with Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley in the right field and DH spots this year. The concept was sound on paper, As Refsnyder + Canzone/Raley had the potential to yield something like a 140 OPS+ if everyone handled their given platoon assignments.

Yet no matter how solid the math, this experiment only seems capable of failing. It failed with Pollock. It failed with Solano. It failed with Refsnyder, and then with Ward when he came in. Wilson is more of an accidental participant, yet he's been infected to the tune of a .572 OPS vs. lefties.

So, that's what the Mariners haven't gained. Then there's the question of what they might have lost. It took until midway through this season for them to finally take the platoon label off Canzone. Did he earn it? No. He had earned it in 2025, when he had handled lefties just fine in hitting .276 with a .348 OBP against them. Refusing to let him cook for half a season after that looks like a misstep.

If there's a lesson here for Dipoto, it's that his platoon hang-up is getting in the way of a more straightforward solution for optimizing the offense. Maybe the goal shouldn't be to use platoons to hack the opposition. Maybe it should be to simply identify good hitters and let them do their thing.

Whether Montes has that kind of potential remains to be seen, but the Mariners won't really know as long as they refuse to let him face left-handed pitching. Obviously, it's a recognition of his .641 OPS vs. lefties between the minors and majors this year. However, it's also oddly fatalistic treatment of a potential cornerstone who is meant to be getting on-the-job training amid a doomed season.

However inept the Mariners think Montes might be in left-on-left matchups, they should remember: Their platoon guys have somehow been just as bad, if not worse.

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