Seattle Mariners Manager Dan Wilson Discusses Lineup Construction For 2025 Season
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SEATTLE — When the Seattle Mariners announced their lineup for Opening Day lineup against the Athletics, it featured an interesting wrinkle.
Luke Raley was penciled in fifth in the order at designated hitter and Rowdy Tellez was seventh at first base.
When spring training began, the anticipation was the Raley and veteran infielder Donovan Solano would platoon at first and Mitch Garver would be the go-to designated hitter. But Tellez's addition to the roster, and him subsequently making the 26-man roster, gave the club several options at DH.
With Tellez now in the fold, the Mariners can play him, Raley or Garver at designated hitter. Seattle can also have Garver play catcher and have Cal Raleigh to DH on days they want to give the latter a day off from defense. The same goes for any players who need the rest from the field but can still contribute with their bats.
"We'll continue to be looking at the DH spot as a way to get guys in there and to get the at-bats (for) guys that contributed to our lineup," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a pregame interview Thursday. "We have a lot of great options there. And that's what makes our lineup so deep and so flexible and so versatile — is that we have great options everywhere we go. That's on us to put the right guys in at the right time."
When it comes to specifics as to why Raley got the nod at DH and Tellez played first on Opening Day, Wilson chalked it up to it simply being the first lineup out of 162.
"Both these guys had played first base in spring and Luke has done a great job along with Rowdy," Wilson said. "Just kind of where it landed (Thursday) in terms of that. Again, it's flexible. It's versatile. This is one lineup out of many — out of 162 that we'll see. And there's gonna be a lot of variation in them. But (Thursday was) Rowdy's night to play first and Raley will be the DH, and the bottom line is getting good (at-bats) from everyone of our guys in the lineup."
In Seattle's 4-2 win against the Athletics on Thursday, Raley went 1-for-3 with a run and a walk. Tellez went 0-for-3 but reached base once after getting hit by a pitch.
Last year, the Mariners didn't get any consistent production out of the designated hitter slot until they traded for Justin Turner on July 29. He split time at first and DH.
Seattle can now be flexible with the position with several solid contributors. That could be a huge boost to the offense, especially as the season progresses.
The Mariners and Athletics will play on Friday night with first pitch coming at 6:40 p.m. PT.
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