Seattle Mariners Second Base Job Less Certain Due to Dylan Moore's Struggles
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When spring training began, the Seattle Mariners had one more infield position they still needed to sort through.
The Mariners had found a third baseman in last year's starter at second base, Jorge Polanco. They signed Donovan Solano to be Luke Raley's platoon-mate at first.
Seattle opted to go in-house to find their starting second baseman for 2025. Dylan Moore was expected to be the front-runner for the position with Ryan Bliss, Leo Rivas and Cole Young also factoring into the competition.
Rivas has a left ankle injury that's kept him out of for most of spring training. Young has had a sore arm that has restricted him to a pinch-hitter/designated hitter role. It'll be difficult, if not outright unlikely for Rivas and Young to climb their way back to the competition. But Moore's struggles might give the other potential second basemen a longer leash.
Moore is 0-for-14 in spring training entering the team's break on Thursday. He has a .067 on-base percentage and a .067 OPS.
For comparison, Rivas was 0-for-1 with an RBI and a .500 OBP and OPS before his injury. Bliss is 4-for-13 (.308) with two RBIs. He has a .308 OBP and a .923 OPS. Young is 3-for-10 with one RBI with a .300 OBP and .700 OPS.
Ryan Bliss could be incredibly useful if he can maintain this stroke pic.twitter.com/oleO9OaVC8
— Trident True (@TridentTruee) February 23, 2025
From a numbers standpoint, Bliss could be the new favorite to start at second against the Athletics on opening day March 27.
But there's another player that could have a shot at standing at second for Seattle: Miles Mastrobuoni.
Mastrobuoni was traded to the Mariners by the Chicago Cubs in return for cash on Jan. 14. He was expected to be a roster bubble-type player who, at best, could be a utility guy capable of filling in at several infield spots and the outfield.
So far in spring training, Mastrobuoni has played solid enough to maybe consider him for an extended role. He's hitting .300 (3-for-10) with three RBIs. He has a .417 OBP and .917 OPS. All three of his RBIs came during a 7-2 win against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday. He went 2-for-2.
There's still a little over three weeks left until opening day. And there's a lot of time left for the second base competition to take one last unexpected turn. But at the rate things are progressing, there's a chance second base takes longer than the end of big league camp to sort out.
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