Mariners’ Latest Catcher Decision Suggests Old Habits Die Hard

Mariners fans were not exactly lining up to celebrate the idea of another year with Mitch Garver as the backup catcher. That’s not personal. It’s just the reality of what the last two seasons looked like. When Seattle had a chance to go a different direction behind Cal Raleigh, it sounds like the club decided to stick with the safer, more familiar option instead. And honestly, that’s the part that makes this feel so Mariners.

Two things can be true here. First, if Cal Raleigh gives the Mariners anything close to what he gave them in 2025, the backup catcher probably won’t decide the season. That much is fair. But second, backup catcher still matters, especially if Seattle wants to manage Raleigh’s workload more carefully and get him off his feet a little more often. If that’s the plan, then this stops being a small roster footnote and starts becoming a real conversation about whether the Mariners are actually helping themselves.

Mariners Run It Back With Mitch Garver In Backup Catcher

Garver’s two years in Seattle never really gave fans much reason to want a sequel. In 2024, he hit just .172 with a .341 slugging percentage and struck out 133 times across 114 games. In 2025, the average climbed to .209, but the overall production still felt light, with nine home runs and around thirty RBI in 87 games. This is a veteran brought in as an experienced bat with some versatility between designated hitter and catcher. Sorry, that’s just not enough. The power didn’t consistently show up, the contact issues never really calmed down, and the offensive floor was lower than anybody wanted to admit for way too long.

And that’s why this decision lands the way it does. It’s not really about acting like Andrew Knizner was some franchise-changing answer. He most definitely isn't. But there was at least an argument for trying something different. Knizner brings legitimate defensive value, has a strong reputation behind the plate, and would’ve offered Seattle a cleaner glove-first complement to Raleigh. At a minimum, it would’ve been a change of scenery and a different look at a spot that hasn’t given the Mariners much lately.

Instead, this feels like Seattle talking itself back into familiarity. Garver knows the staff. Garver knows the organization. Garver is the veteran. Garver is the comfortable answer. That all makes sense. But “comfortable” has also become one of those words when the Mariners talk themselves into running back something fans already know didn’t work well enough the first or second time.

Nobody’s trying to dump on Garver as a person here. By all accounts, he’s respected, he works hard, and he’s been a good presence in the room. But this is still a production business, and the production just hasn’t been there in Seattle. If the Mariners are serious about squeezing every edge out of this roster, they should be looking for spots where they can get better, not just spots where they can feel safer.

Maybe this ends up being a non-story. Maybe Garver gives them better at-bats in a smaller role and this looks smarter than it feels right now. That’s possible. But from where fans sit today, this doesn’t feel like an inspiring decision. It feels like a familiar one.

And if this is supposed to be exciting, that’s a pretty low bar.