Yankees' Mitch Garver optimism clashes with his former Mariners reality

The Mariners have spent the past few weeks trying to save their floundering season and resuscitate their rapidly declining playoff odds. Aside from the new players they acquired at the trade deadline, they also released some roster redundancies, namely Rob Refsnyder and Mitch Garver.

The former may now be retired but it didn't take long for the latter to sign with the Yankees on a minor league deal. With a disappointing season from Austin Wells, the Bronx Bombers were looking for more backstop depth at the trade deadline but failed to acquire anyone. The team seems bullish about what he can do behind the dish and at the plate but if his past three season in Seattle are any indication of what's to come, they're in for a sobering reality.

Yankees' aspirations for Mitch Garver are based more on hope than evidence

Tanner Swanson, the catching coordinator for New York was reportedly one of the main advocates for the Garver acquisition. The two had worked together in Minnesota and Swanson was enthusiastic when asked about what he believed Garver brought to the table.

"We think there’s probably some things we can tap into to improve the defense in the short runway that we have here, and eventually he’ll make his way to Scranton and see if he has anything left offensively...We think he does. That’s why we acquired him."

Tanner Swanson

Garver has had some impressive offensive seasons in his past. He has posted an OPS+ greater than 130 in three seasons and also managed to hit 31 home runs for the Twins in 2019. In 2023, his 138 OPS+ and 2.3 rWAR made him the 10th-most valuable player on a World Series winning Texas Rangers team. In fact, it was that very success that led him to sign a two-year deal with the Mariners.

Sadly, he never made things work in Seattle. Across 869 plate appearances for the team in three seasons, he had an 83 OPS+ and accumulated 0.1 rWAR. His most critical weakness since joining Seattle has been against pitches in the strike zone. Although he's one of the best at not swinging at pitches outside of the zone, this may be an unintended side effect of not swinging the bat much at all.

To his credit, he has been doing more damage this year when he has made contact and he has a hard-hit rate of 51.9%, but he's also swinging and missing more than ever bringing his OPS down to just .596 over 149 plate appearances.

Garver isn't the only one in Seattle that's having issues creating runs and there's a chance that a change of scenery could be what he needs to get going. He hasn't played in the minor leagues since going on a rehab assignment in 2023 and taking some time to get back into the groove could prompt him to get the bat off the shoulder more frequently and produce more offense.

Though his tenure with the Mariners was largely disappointing, the Yankees don't have much to lose in picking him up but it's apparent that his upside is drastically limited. At 35 years old, this may be his last big league season but it's not impossible for him to make some sort of a comeback. He did have a handful of moments in Seattle that suggested there may still be some gas left in the tank but it's now on the Yankees to replenish the Garv Sauce.

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