Seattle Mariners: Kyle Seager’s Last Dance
Limited options
Let’s discuss the elephant in the room. Ty France is on the roster. While he doesn’t have a set position, third base is where he plays the best. Both sides can argue as to how good or not good France is at the hot corner.
The other option to play third is utilityman Dylan Moore. He’s coming off his best season. Bear in mind that last “season” was only 60 games. So far, Moore has a total of 384 at-bats with a career .224 career average. The only possible remaining options are; free agency, trade, or moving Gold Glove shortstop J.P. Crawford or Noelvi Marte to third base.
Bringing this back to a possible Seager return. All Seager needs to do is produce at his normal career rates; .256 avg, 127 hits, 21 HR’s, 71 RBI’s, 5 SB with a .326 OBP, and .768 OPS.
Anyone else in the organization?
So, with the M’s not currently having a reliant dependable Plan B to Seager at third base. It currently looks like he’ll possibly be back in the Emerald City in 2022. That is unless one of the current team members proves they can play the hot corner to at least Seager’s level.
The current leader in the clubhouse to be the M’s 2022 starting third baseman is France. As previously mentioned, he’s a natural third baseman who can also play second base. Mariners fans saw what France could do against major league pitching last year. He’s carrying that success over into this season, which gives the team another reliable hitter.
Scouts suggested that Crawford’s lack of range can be lessened by moving to third. Then again, Marte is no sure thing in the middle-infield either. Whether shortstop or third base is his major league home remains to be seen. If Crawford earns another Gold Glove, then it’ll be even harder to justify moving him away from shortstop.
Noelvi Marte has left the building 💥 pic.twitter.com/bqsQwF3rBF
— Tacoma Rainiers (@RainiersLand) July 30, 2020