The sailors and Rattlesnakes made their first major move to the season Thursday night. Seattle wins first baseman Josh Naylor Left-handed for rookie Brandin Garcia and pitching prospects Ashton Izzi. Naylor and Garcia are both in the 40-man squad, so no other moves are needed in this regard. D-backs recalled tristinEnglish Fill in the active lineup.
Naylor hasn’t gained the current deadline hype like his current former teammate Eugenio Suárezwhose power stretch makes him an upcoming free agent hitter. The 28-year-old first baseman has a strong year in his own rights, though. Naylor hit .292/.360/.447 with 11 home runs and nearly 400 trips to the plate. In 13 attempts, he was even eliminated from his career-high 11 stolen bases. There may not be any better left-handed rental bats on the market.
The previous first-round pick was the second move in seven months. Rattlesnakes acquire Naylor’s starting pitcher from Cleveland Slade Cecconi and the 70th draft pick throughout the winter. This is a more affordable way to solve the first base instead of re-signing Christian Walkerthey were awarded a three-year contract that paid 20 mm per year from Astros. While Naylor didn’t offer the same gold glove defense as Walker offers, he has been at an above-average batsman for the fourth straight season. The best 31 home runs of his career last year looked like an outlier, but he lowered his strikeout rate to an individual 12.4% lower clip, which should hit between 15-20 home runs.
Seattle has long been a team’s reputation and is desperate to attack to supplement the pitching staff. It did in the previous season, but it wasn’t this year. The Mariners ranked sixth in home runs and tenth in scoring. They are the middle packs of the batting average and rank in the top 10 in base percentage and slip. It’s a big feat for a team that plays home games at the very friendly T-Mobile Park. Seattle’s best MLB hit average on the road and 0.346 OBP, only the winemakers and the Cubs scored more from home.
Naylor deepened the group. He will Luke Raleywho should see him most of the time in the right field. Dominic Canzone He has been setting fires since Seattle recalled him from Triple-A on June 9. He now projected it as a substitute, although he can also join the designated hitter’s lineup if the sailor feels comfortable using it, even if he can also play with the designated hitter’s lineup. Jorge Polanco More often between the second and third bases.
It all depends on other moves that Seattle is still storing. Earlier this week, Seattle Times’ Adam Jude reported that sailors saw reunion with Suárez as their highest deadline priority, even more important than the idea of adding Naylor. The Mariners will also report that they will continue to push for the joining Suarez. He’s a cleaner position fit- he’ll be getting a massive upgrade on third base Ben Williamson – But the Rattlesnake will get better returns than Naylor gets.
It also shows that M has greater financial flexibility compared to offseason, as reported in Seattle’s beating writers in recent weeks. Naylor’s salary is $10.9mm, and sailors’ salary is nearly 4mm. Suarez’s salary is over 5mm. The Mariners fell six games with Al West’s Astros, but they were obviously willing to invest as they tried to lock in at least the wildcard berth.
This is the first of several dominoes behind the Rattlesnakes. They all want to avoid selling off when they sweep the Cardinals in the All-Star Game. They were swept at home by Houston earlier this week, negating the St. Louis series. They returned to three games below three games and 5.5 games in the playoffs, with four teams able to jump. The front desk resigned the possibility of ending the gap with the injured pitcher.
Arizona prioritizes controllable pitching in its deadline rate of return. They got a pair of young weapons in their first deal in the summer. Garcia, 25, should jump into the major league bullpen. On Monday, 6’4″ Southpaw just advanced to the major league. He has pitched twice, giving up four hits and three runs (once) while recording a strikeout. His sinker piece averaged 97 mph, with two unique breakout courts – mid-80s sweepers and a cutter/slider located upstream of the 80s.
Garcia was Seattle’s 11th round pick in Texas A&M in 2023. He ranks 13th among Seattle prospects in MLB Pipeline and 19th in the U.S. baseball game. Both media praised him for a promising set of sinking films. Garcia lacks viable changes, and Fringe Command pushes him to the bullpen for the first time this season. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM reported that D-backs also viewed him as a reliefist and did not intend to back him up. Garcia shot 28.2% from three and walk 28.2%, an improvement of 11.4% in 32 appearances between the first two minor league levels.
The 21-year-old Izzi is a long-term development. Seattle brought him to Illinois high school in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. He performed well in LOW-A last season, but he has been working hard to reach 5.51 ERA this year in High-A. He has hit a quarter of the batsman with a walking rate of 9.7%, indicating some bad fortune on the average running average earned. 6’3″ Right-hander ranked 13th in the hands of Seattle Nong in Baseball America and 16th in the MLB pipeline. He had mid-90s fastballs and a chance to have a three-point combination that could make him a starter if his orders continue to develop.
Ken Rosenthal of the movement first reported that the sailors were buying Neller. ESPN’s Jeff Passan brought Garcia and Izzi back to Arizona. The respective images are provided by Denis Poroy and Joe Nicholson, images.
