Taylor Trammell, Seattle Mariners.
Where there’s a spark, there’s a flame. The Seattle Mariners have lots of excitement coming from the farm system recently ranked third overall by MLB.Com. Jarred Kelenic, Julio Rodriguez, Logan Gilbert, and the list seems to go on and on for the rebuilding M’s. However, rookie Taylor Trammell paired with last year’s ROY Kyle Lewis creates this combustibility in attitude that will be infectious.
The one thing that sets Trammell apart from the rest of the Mariners’ players is his insatiable desire to be positive no matter the circumstance. His clubhouse presence shows in the way his teammates react to him. Or in the way announcers go on about him.
Trammell creates a buzz with just his attitude. Combine that with Kyle Lewis’ infectious attitude, and the Mariners have a great combination that could elevate the team’s talent.
These two aren’t the only ones on the team. It can be seen in Marco Gonzalez’ leadership, the way that Justus Sheffield has bounced back, Kyle Seager’s guidance, Ty France’s bat, and more. Throw in the return of veteran leaders Mitch Haniger and Tom Murphy, and the Mariners have no positivity shortage.
How does attitude translate to the game? As with everything, there is a foundation, a baseline from which to draw from. This baseline starts with attitude. If the Mariners get into a funk, they are less likely to remain in that rut when there is so much positivity in the dugout. Positivity accelerates forward momentum and can create a sustaining effect even when the team loses.
The fans root for this, but the players will root for their teammates and play harder for each other. Someone like Taylor Trammell provides that spark. Trammell is having a decent spring. His bat seems to be on-time with big-league pitching as well. A gifted athlete with speed and power, Trammell’s biggest effect is the attitude he brings with him to the clubhouse every day.
It would appear that most of the offense is set. Evan White is at first with some Ty France or Jose Marmolejos as his back-up. Dylan Moore starts at second with Ty France sharing some time there too. The everyday shortstop is JP Crawford, but perhaps Sam Haggerty makes the club in a utility aspect. Seattle’s most tenured player Kyle Seager returns to the hot corner with France as the back-up.
Center field is Kyle Lewis’ territory, and Mitch Haniger in right field, though he might have a few extra off-days coming back into the fold. DH will be Ty France most of the time. Tom Murphy and Luis Torrens share the backstop duties. This leaves the only true opening on the Mariners to be left field.
For the Mariners, left field and the sixth starter situation are the only spring battles compelling enough to discuss. While the final starter in a six-man rotation, which won’t be necessary until around April 24th, is important, finding a starting left fielder is more pressing.
The Mariners lineup is in flux as well. Manager Servais has tinkered with dropping J.P. Crawford down in the order recently, which I think is the right decision. Adding Trammell to the mix brings an additional measure of speed and gap-power that could fit anywhere in the line-up. He’s also a left-handed bat, which the Mariners desperately need to keep from being too right-hand heavy.
Jarred Kelenic is still in the running to be the opening day left fielder. Service-time situation aside, Kelenic has to make up for lost time due to the recent abductor strain. While he looked great in his return, Trammell looked great all spring.
Kelenic and Trammell are both left-handed, so having them play the same position has a redundancy that wouldn’t work as a platoon situation. Neither has value at any other position unless France ends up in the infield more often than previously imagined, or Mitch Haniger isn’t as healthy as the team says he is.
This puts the Seattle Mariners in a unique situation where they might have too much talent at a position to create an opportunity for one of them to be an everyday player. With Kyle Lewis entrenched in center for now and Mitch Haniger the opening day right fielder, will there be enough at-bats to justify keeping both rookies on the big league roster at the same time?
Then there are the perennial Four-A players Jake Fraley and Braden Bishop. Eventually, the M’s will run out of options for these two, and they will find themselves playing for another team that might have an opportunity for them. For now, it looks like Trammell knocked one or both off the roster.
With the need for a sixth starter not there until late April, the Mariners could stick to eight relievers and hold off on the sixth starter until then. This would create an opening for one more bat and buy Trammell some time to prove himself to be a big-league caliber outfielder and bat.
The bottom line is that with Trammell’s attitude and performance this spring, he earned a spot on the opening day roster. Trammell has a tremendous qualitative value that could turn into a really strong quantitative value for the entire team. In a results-driven world like Major League Baseball, his impact on the Seattle Mariners could be as valuable as his own production.
Joe Swenson is a writer, director, and producer for Broken Arts Entertainment www.brokenartsentertainment.com. He is also a co-host for the “In The Clutch” podcast.