Mariners Release Opening Day Roster; Crawford, Miller Notably Absent with Injury
With opening day right around the corner for the Seattle Mariners - at 7:10 p.m. Pacific on Thursday against the Guardians - the team has released its first 26-man roster for the 2026 season. The top of the depth chart, of course, is very much all over the M’s roster, from returning superstars in Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez to new additions like Brendan Donovan and Jose A. Ferrer.
But of course it is not all sunshine and roses for the defending AL West champions. Longtime shortstop J.P. Crawford is out for the beginning of the year with a shoulder injury while Bryce Miller is working through an injury of his own, leaving holes in the middle infield and the back of the rotation. Leo Rivas is going to get some playing time at short in the meantime (and perhaps Cole Young might swivel
Analysis: Why Cole Young’s Spring Training Improvements Will Continue in 2026 Mariners Season
Cole Young had the second-lowest hard hit rate on the Mariners last year at 31.1%, about 10th percentile among major leaguers. He also hit the longest home run of any Mariner.
Well, not counting Cal Raleigh’s absolute tanks in the Home Run Derby. But even as the Mariner catcher hit 60 bombs in 2025, he never cracked 450 feet on any of them; his longest shot went 448 feet. Young, meanwhile, took poor Rangers starter Kumar Rocker 456 feet with a line drive to the second deck on the last day of July. It was one of just four home runs during Young’s rookie campaign, but it gave some indication that Seattle’s biggest prospect graduation of the year might have some serious pop in the tank.
But with 12 extra-base hits in 257 plate appearances, Young didn’t give much of an indication that he could do such things consistently. Indeed, while that exact nuke left the bat at 114.1 miles an hour - a maximum exit velocity in the 83rd percentile - Young hit so many weak grounders and lazy fly balls that the rest of his batted ball profile was markedly unimpressive.
Hitting six home runs in 63 plate appearances, however, is very impressive. That’s what Young did in Spring Training this year - but does that mean anything come Opening Day?
Mariners Reportedly Go with Garver for Backup Catcher; Right or Wrong Move by Dipoto?
Mitch Garver already returned to the Mariners organization thanks to some advice from Cal Raleigh, but with Spring Training nearly in the rear-view mirror, it’s being reported that he’s going to make the jump back to the bigs for another year. With this decision, it’s likely that Andrew Knizner - who signed a $1 million guaranteed contract in the offseason - will be designated for assignment, though he can be outrighted to Triple-A if he clears waivers. Jhonny Pereda, who is on the 40-man roster, will probably also return to Triple-A to start the season, though this would mark his last minor league option.
Garver was quite appreciative of Raleigh’s efforts to bring him back, according to MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer.
“It means a lot that he would want me to come back and be there for him whenever he needs to take a breather,” Garver said. “So, I'm happy to do it. Happy to just put on the gear and catch guys when they need me the most and couldn't be [happier] to be where we're at.”
Bringing Garver up was a $2.25 million dollar decision, financially, as that’s what Garver was guaranteed to make if he made the MLB roster at any point. So what went into the decision to bring him back for another year?
Is Logan Gilbert Ready to Re-Establish Himself as Cy Young Contender for Mariners?
A lot went right for the 2025 Seattle Mariners. Cal Raleigh hit as many homers as some guy named Babe Ruth. The team made it all the way to Game 7 of the ALCS, farther than the franchise has ever gone before.
On the list of things that did not go perfectly, Logan Gilbert’s season was one of them. It’s not that he had a bad season. He just didn’t have one up to his lofty standards.
“That's always the biggest goal for me is 32 starts, 200 innings,” Gilbert told the media at the beginning of Spring Training. “That's the only thing I really care about.”
Assessing Three March Mariner Concerns Ahead of 2026 Regular Season
If the Seattle Mariners started the 2026 regular season 6-16-1 (ignore the tie), things would probably be nearing panic mode in T-Mobile Park. But given that it’s Spring Training, the record isn’t all that concerning as Opening Day begins. But from injury concerns to slow starts for stars, there are some points of worry for the M’s as the season comes into view. Just how worrying are these signs, however? Is there any meaning to be derived from them?
Concern 1: Injury questions for players up and down the roster.
Concern level: 4/10
The most-discussed injury question for the upcoming season has been Bryce Miller, and it seems likely by this point that he won’t be ready to start the regular season. The Mariners have Emerson Hancock and Cooper Criswell both available to fill in the fifth starter role - and I personally expect they’ll start with Hancock, with Criswell in the tank if Hancock again struggles as a starter - but they at least have some good indications due to both players’ performance in Spring Training. That doesn’t necessarily mean much for the regular season, especially in the top-line stats such as ERA and FIP, but the M’s have to be impressed with Hancock’s feel for the ball.
Mariners Postseason Hero Bryce Miller Once Again Dealing With Injury Bug
The worst fear of any baseball team with high expectations is injuries. Especially when those injuries hit the starting pitching. The starting rotation is a delicate ecosystem on any team.
For the Seattle Mariners, Bryce Miller struggled through most of the 2025 season. It was a year of stops and starts, totaling in 18 starts, with just eight coming after June 6. Miller dealt with right elbow inflammation, including a bone spur that required time off. When he did pitch, he wasn’t his usual effective self, posting a 4-6 record with a 5.68 ERA, 74 strikeouts, and a 1.41 WHIP over 90 1/3 innings. His strikeout rate dropped significantly, and advanced metrics showed regression with higher hard-hit rates and an elevated FIP.
Simply put, there was a clear struggle with his health throughout last season that undoubtedly impacted his performance.
Are Spring Demotions Setbacks for Montes, Morales? Analyzing Mariners Roster Moves
Through the course of Spring Training, there will always be players who impress and players who don’t. It’s quite a small sample in these early games - there’s a reason that farm teams play over the course of a whole year - but it can give a sense of readiness when it comes to facing big league or near-big league opposition. The Mariners made a series of moves on Wednesday, March 11 that indicated how they feel about a number of prospects in their organization, sending five non-40 man players to minor league camp and optioning two more guys to Triple-A.
But what do each of these moves mean for the players involved? Are they significant setbacks in their journey to the Show, or was it something that was bound to happen? As we’ll see, it depends on the player.
Lazaro Montes still has a ways to go before making his MLB entry.
There has been some serious billing for Laz Montes over the years, with occasional comps to premier sluggers like Yordan Alvarez and some very clearly high marks on his raw power.
Does Leo Rivas’ Spring Power Surge Portend Hidden Mariners Threat?
A 464-foot moonshot from Brennen Davis on Sunday afternoon may not have been all that surprising to those who have kept track of his spring superheater, but a 441-footer from the 5-7, 150-pound Leo Rivas - accounting for the other two of Seattle’s runs during the team’s 6-3 loss to the Brewers - probably turned a few heads in surprise.
If the Mariners’ 2026 season goes according to plan, they’re going to have situations like they did in the bottom of the seventh of Game 5 of the 2025 ALDS, when they need a pinch-hitter to come through in a winner-take-all playoff game.
That was when Leo Rivas shined, swatting a game-tying single in what ended up a 15-inning marathon memorably walked off by Jorge Polanco. Rivas, whose greatest strength that year was an ability to take a free pass (his 18% walk rate was the third best of anyone with 100 or more plate appearances last year, behind only Aaron Judge and Dylan Beavers), jumped on an 0-1 changeup out over the plate for the hard-sought hit.
10 Over/Under Predictions for the Seattle Mariners in 2026
The Seattle Mariners are set to begin one of the most anticipated seasons in franchise history. After getting closer to the World Series than ever before, Seattle has some serious momentum heading in 2026.
With that, let’s set the table for the 2026 MLB season with 10 Mariners-themed “over/under” scenarios and dive into whether or not the M’s will hit the over.
Analysis: Do Mariners Actually Have Something Real in Brennen Davis?
SURPRISE, Ariz. - The prospect trajectories of Brennen Davis and Jack Leiter are like a lenticular print. From one angle, they seem like they could not be any more different, but from the other, they have quite a few similarities. On the one hand, they both peaked in prospect rankings in 2022, when they each got the coveted number one spot in their respective organizations from Baseball America - and their stock fell in future years. But on the other, Davis has never seen a single pitch in the big leagues, while Leiter weathered a rough couple of outings in 2024 to come back for a full rookie year in 2025 when he pitched to a 3.86 ERA and 4.15 FIP in 151 ⅔ innings, finishing seventh in rookie of the year voting.
You wouldn’t know it from the way Davis took Leiter to town on Friday. The long-beleaguered outfielder saw a belt-high fastball over the inside part of the plate in the fourth inning of the Mariners’ game against the Rangers and sent a 437-foot missile to left center. The M’s went on to break a six-game Spring Training skid that had seen the team score 40 less runs than their opponents with a 5-1 victory. It was Davis’ third homer of the spring and brought his Cactus League batting average to .476. Is this for real?
‘Not Out of the Question’ Mariners Top Prospect Colt Emerson Earns Opening Day Spot
The Seattle Mariners first round pick from 2023, Colt Emerson, is making waves in big league camp in 2026. Heading into this season, he ranks No. 9 overall per MLB Pipeline and one of the best shortstop prospects.
Spring training is still early, so things remain fluid. Recent coverage describes his path as "well within reach," drawing direct parallels to how Julio Rodríguez forced his way onto the roster in 2022. So far in spring action, he is 4-for-11 (.364) with a triple and three RBI. He certainly is making a good impression thus far in camp.
Only four Mariners hitters have produced a faster exit velocity this spring than Emerson’s 111.6 MPH. Is he set to make the Opening Day roster?
Analysis: What Exactly Makes Strong Rob Refsnyder Season Quite Likely for Mariners?
When he went up against a right-handed pitcher between 2022 and 2025, Red Sox outfielder Rob Refsnyder hit .235 with an on-base percentage of .315 and a slugging percentage of .355. Few people in baseball talk about those numbers, because that’s not why the Mariners paid him $6.25 million in December or why the rest of the league is waiting with baited breath to see what the 35-year-old has in store at T-Mobile Park.
Refsnyder’s slash line against lefties in those four years? .312/.407/.516. Against all pitchers, just four players have maintained a .924 OPS or better since 2022: Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, and Yordan Alvarez. Obviously, Refsnyder isn’t quite in their league (since he’s just doing this against left-handers), but that’s the whole point of a platoon. When it comes to splits versus lefties, Refsnyder’s last four years have been the seventh best among guys with 250 or more plate appearances spread among the past four years.
Diving deeper into the data, we can see even more evidence that Refsnyder sees the ball very well when he has the platoon advantage: he walks 12.8% of the time when a southpaw is on the mound, around the rate that Nick Kurtz drew free passes during the 2025 season. His .407 on-base percentage against left-handers is the third highest since 2022, only less than Judge and Paul Goldschmidt.
True to the Blue: Early Signs Positive for Mariners Slugger Julio Rodriguez in Spring Training?
Already a multi-time All-Star, Julio Rodriguez has been a face of the franchise for the Mariners since his arrival as a top prospect. But he's still yet to put together a complete season.
Emerald City Spectrum reporter Callaghan Bluechel breaks down early indicators from spring training that could be positive signs for Rodriguez overcoming his prior early season struggles, examines the swings of prospects Michael Arroyo and Jonny Farmelo from four spring training games thus far, and checks out several other prospects and veteran newcomers from the first week of Cactus League action.
Four More Mariners Hitting Prospects Looking to Prove Themselves in Peoria
Spring training has started in earnest for the Seattle Mariners, with a few games under their belts and just under a week left in February. Prospects and stars alike have started to get in their reps under the bluest Arizona skies, but with the World Baseball Classic starting up on March 4, some of the hitters further down in the system will get quite a bit of playing time. Now, they’ll mostly be working against prospects and four-A guys from other squads, but their time in Peoria will still give an idea of where they are in their development.
This article is the finale of a series of four discussing some of the Mariners’ notable prospect non-roster invites (NRIs) to Spring Training. The other three can be found here, here, and here.
SS Felnin Celesten, 20 years old, High-A.
When the M’s released their list of NRIs, Celesten didn’t make an appearance, but some play on Sunday during a 14-8 win over the Cincinnati Reds - he went 1-2 with a double - evidently means he got the invite after all.
Mariners Drop Saturday Spring Game 10-5; Hancock Appears Solid in Start
The beating Arizona sun took quite its share of victims for the second day in a row as the San Francisco Giants made the trip over from Scottsdale to Peoria for some Cactus League action against the Seattle Mariners. Chief among those victims this time was Emerson Hancock’s Spring Training ERA as the M’s let a five-run lead become a five-run loss.
But since the score doesn’t matter in February, let’s take a look at some of the few things that might give us the faintest echo of an idea for how the Mariners look going into 2026.
Emerson Hancock shows some life in his first outing of the spring.
Seattle’s pitching lab has seen a lot of success in recent years, with Bryan Woo, Logan Gilbert, and George Kirby turning into key pieces of the Mariners’ arsenal. But so far, that success has not been flowing in Emerson Hancock’s direction. Hancock, who has a career 4.81 ERA, 5.23 FIP, and 1.359 WHIP across 37 appearances (31 starts), enters 2026 with one more shot to become a major league starter.
Baseball’s Back: Five Notes from Mariners’ First Spring Training Action of 2026
With blue skies above and many excited fans all around in that picturesque Cactus League ballpark, the Seattle Mariners played their first game of 2026 Spring Training on Friday, Feb. 20. The first day of spring is perhaps the most hopeful time for all 30 teams in any given year, with a nearly clean slate injury-wise and the first harsh reality checks of the regular season still a month and change away.
A quite packed house of 9,956 spectators dotted the Peoria Sports Complex to see the Mariners and Padres both take to their home Spring ball yard. They saw prospects go up against powerhouses in exciting duels and yet also witnessed players trip over each other, lose cans of corn in the sun, and make Little League errors in base coverage. No one got hurt and the game doesn’t count, so both sides came away with a smile in a 7-4 win for Seattle. But what does the first preseason action of 2026 tell us about how things might go when real chips are down for the Mariners?
Michael Arroyo put on a good display at the dish, with a homer and double to power early Seattle production.
Seattle’s system has a fair amount of top-end hitting prospects, and although Colt Emerson and Lazaro Montes headline the system, the crown in Peoria bore witness to another of Seattle’s guys in the farm system. Michael Arroyo, who struggled a bit with his power after his promotion to Double-A in 2025 with a .255/.376/.341 slash line (though this was still a 121 OPS+ where 100 is league average) - and yet decreased his strikeout rate against better pitchers - went into Spring with the chance to show what exactly the Mariners have with him.
Mitch Garver Returns to Mariners on Minor League Contract; Will Big League Team See Him in 2026?
When the 2024 season took flight, Mitch Garver was fresh off one of the best seasons of his career. In 87 games as a catcher and DH for the Texas Rangers, he slashed .270/.370/.500 for a 138 OPS+ (where 100 is league average) with 19 homers, 11 doubles, and 50 RBIs. But the real crown jewel of that season came on Nov. 1, when his Rangers sealed their first World Series victory.
The Mariners wanted a piece of that action. Ever short a bat and needing a reliable backstop to complement burgeoning star Cal Raleigh, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto dished out the then-largest free agent hitter contract of his tenure, a two-year, $24 million deal with a $12 million mutual option for a third year that had a $1 million team buyout.
Things didn’t quite go according to plan. Over 201 games in 2024 and 2025, Garver slashed .187/.290/.341 for an 85 OPS+. A decline in batting average on balls in play from .313 in 2023 - an unheeded warning that he was due for regression - to .236 over the next pair of summers took a lot of the wind from his sails, concurrent with a decline in line drives and an increase in grounders. The M’s took the buyout and Garver took heed of his options, but in the end, he returned to Seattle on a minor league contract. Will he find his way back to the big league club, or will any value from Garver in 2026 be more organizational?
Three X-Factors in Mariners’ Success For 2026
For the Seattle Mariners to return to the playoffs in 2026, it’s obvious which usual suspects have to have strong seasons. Cal Raleigh, while unfair to be expected to mash 60 homers again, needs to be among the league leaders in home runs with a slugging percentage at least near .500. Julio Rodriguez needs to be a 30-30 threat again (30 home runs/30 stolen bases). The top three of the rotation need to be reliable and healthy. Andres Muñoz needs to keep throwing gas and stay healthy as well. That’s all a given.
But to get further than the Divisional Round this time around, Seattle will need contributions from other sources to get over the top. Which X-Factors, if they perform perhaps better than expected, could drive the Mariners finally to their first World Series berth?
Mariners Add Josh Simpson as Southpaw Groundballer Depth, Hope Homer Stays Behind
For all their strengths, the 2025 Seattle Mariners had little in the way of lefties on the mound. There was Gabe Speier … and that was about it for the top line, given that a deadline trade for Caleb Ferguson did little but wash out. Though Speier did well early on in the ALDS, the Tigers (and later, Blue Jays) got to see him time and time again, allowing them to adjust to his style on the mound.
The M’s have already addressed this issue at the top level, bringing in Jose A. Ferrer from the Washington Nationals, but more depth is never a bad thing. Robinson Ortiz, another winter acquisition, has zero MLB experience despite some clear potential upside. Mariners brass, therefore, brought in southpaw Josh Simpson from the Marlins in exchange for cash considerations.
Simpson is clearly a reclamation project for the Mariners, coming off a 7.34 ERA, 5.35 FIP, and 1.826 WHIP in 31 appearances in his rookie season last year. His fastballs are below average, but he does have good movement on his sweeper and curveball, with his curve mostly being used against righties and the sweeper against lefties. Control was a big issue for Simpson in 2025, with a 14.6% walk rate and 92 Location+ according to FanGraphs (where 100 is league average), but the real killer was the home run ball.
Three More Mariners Non-Roster Pitching Prospects to Watch in Spring Training
Non-World Baseball Classic pitchers and catchers reported to Peoria on Wednesday, Feb. 11, marking the beginning of Spring Training as the baseball offseason concludes. While much of the news for the Mariners revolved around the additions to the major league team, there are quite a few prospects looking ahead to Spring Training as a showcase of their skills.
This is the third part of a series of four articles detailing some of the non-roster invites (NRIs) that will make appearances in the Mariners’ Spring Training this year; the first two parts can be found here and here. Unlike part two, which went over some of the higher-end pitchers in the Mariners’ system - who are expected to be starters - this piece goes over hurlers further down in the organization’s depth, mostly expected to slot into a relief role.
1. RHP Teddy McGraw, 24 years old, High-A.
McGraw has the stuff to reach the majors in some capacity, but a laundry list of injuries over his time in the minors have made it uncertain whether he is still on track to become a big league starter. In any case, his pitch profile - a running sinker combined with a sweeper and a four-seamer - suggest he might fit best as a reliever.
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