The Mariners made it clear Josh Naylor was a priority to bring back for next season and seasons beyond. Naylor made it clear that he loved everything about playing in Seattle – things that aren’t always said by position players.
It all made too much sense not to happen. And yet, baseball free agency, which offers many options and sometimes life-altering money, doesn’t always deal in logic or reason when decisions are made.
In the end, the connection between the Mariners and Naylor proved to be stronger than any outside interest. Of course, a five-year contract for $92.5 million also helps .
After Naylor passed his physical and the team officially announced the signing on Monday evening, the key principles spoke with the media on Tuesday morning at T-Mobile Park.
“This was about as simple a decision as we can make organizationally,” said Jerry Dipoto, the Mariners’ president of baseball operations. “After acquiring Josh midseason at the trade deadline, the way he fit in our clubhouse, in the community, the way the fan base embraced him, and frankly, a lot of the magical things that he did on the field … we’re all thrilled to have Josh as part of the Mariners family, moving forward.”
While he rarely deviates from a focused glare on the field, Naylor, clad in a light suit, couldn’t stop smiling. With his family, including his parents, his wife, Chantel Collado, and newborn son, Nix, in attendance, he talked glowingly about his reasons for signing with Seattle.
“I’m super excited, super thankful, super blessed right now, very humbled,” Naylor said. “I can’t thank my family enough for getting me to this point. Without them, I’m nothing and I don’t get to this position I’m in now. God is good and he’s good all the time, so I just can’t thank my people enough. They are super influential in me, super positive toward everything I do.”
Naylor was the first major free agent to sign a contract this offseason. While many free agents want to test the market to see what multiple offers from competing teams might provide, he wasn’t quite as interested in a drawn-out process.
“Obviously, I could have tested the open market, that’s what most of the free agents do,” he said. “For me, talking to my agent, talking to my family, we knew where we wanted to go and we got a deal done at a fair rate that we wanted. And as great as it is to get the most (money) you can, I am more than comfortable here. I love this place, I love this fan base, I love this city, I love my teammates, and I’m super thankful to be back. We got a fair deal done, and I’m just grateful. I’m blessed. I’m not very greedy in that sense.”
No, he’s greedy for success on the field.
“I just want to win baseball games,” he said. “I want to win for the city. I felt like that last loss (Game 7 of the American League Championship Series), not that I had to come back, but I wanted to come back to give this fan base and this city and my teammates and their families a World Series in the next five years, or multiple World Series or multiple pennants. That’s just the best thing I could give back. I want to give back. I wanted to run it back with all these guys and do it again.”
Acquired from Arizona on July 24 in a trade that sent pitching prospects Brandyn Garcia and Ashton Izzi in return, Naylor filled a need as an everyday first baseman. But he became so much more almost immediately, bringing a level of intensity to a team that already possessed a highly-competitive mindset.
In 54 regular-season games with Seattle, he posted a .299/.341/.490 slash line with 10 doubles, nine homers, 33 RBIs, 19 stolen bases, 11 walks and 34 strikeouts. In 12 postseason games, he posted a .340/.392/.574 slash line with 16 hits, including three homers.
He quickly became a fan favorite with his collection of custom cleats, his ability to steal bases despite a lack of foot speed, his fiery on-filed persona and his complimentary comments about the organization, the home stadium and the city.
“They’re so cool and super supportive in every single way,” Naylor said. “They are ride or die fans. They want to see you win. And I feel like when we win, we win together. It’s like the X-amount of thousands of fans that are in the crowd, and then also the 26 players on the field, the coaching staff, the head office – we all win together, which is so cool. And I feel like it’s very rare to have that around the league, but this fan base is absolutely incredible. I have nothing but great things to say about them. Nothing but love for them.”
How much does he like fans? He started giving his custom-made cleats to young fans after games during the run to the postseason and during the playoffs.
“I cherish my shoes, and I think a lot of people know that,” he said. “But towards the end of the year, I started to give like my shoes away, to like these little kids, just to like see them smile and make them happy. And, you know, I hope they appreciate it. I think they did. And I just, I want to continue to make them smile, whether it’s with my gameplay, whether it’s a little gestures of signing autographs, giving away some apparel.”
In 163 career plate appearances at T-Mobile Park, Naylor is a .304 hitter (45×148) with an .869 on-base plus slugging percentage, including seven doubles, nine home runs, 34 RBI s and 12 stolen bases with an .869 OPS. In 100 plate appearances in his home ballpark with the Mariners in 2025, Naylor hit .360 (32×89) with 19 runs, seven doubles, five homers, 22 RBI s and 12 stolen bases with a 1.015 OPS at T-Mobile Park.
Combined with a solid first half with the D’Backs, Naylor played in a combined 147 games. He posted a .296/.353/.462 slash line with 29 doubles, a triple, 20 homers 92 RBIs, 81 runs scored and 30 stolen bases.
Naylor recorded his first 20-homer, 20-stolen base season in his career, becoming the 14th first baseman (done 19 times) with 20+ HR and 20+ SB in a season. He also joined Paul Goldschmidt (2016) and Jeff Bagwell (2x, 1997, ’99) as the only first basemen in MLB history with at least 20 HR and 30 SB in a season (min. 60% of games at first base).
This story will be updated.