The injuries continue stacking for Seattle’s role players.
Thundering outfielder Luke Raley will be sidelined for a chunk of time with a Grade 1 oblique injury that’s landed him on the 10-day injured list. The burly slugger appeared to tweak something in his side during batting practice on Tuesday, and the MRI confirmed his oblique strain will keep him out for six weeks minimum. While he’d not been the centerpiece of the offense in the way some of his peers have, Raley was having a fascinating season similar in many ways to Julio Rodríguez. He’s been walking more than ever, striking out less than ever, but having shoddy BABIP fortune and minimal power thus far this year. Forced into a full-time role with Victor Robles injured, Raley was still mustering a 109 wRC+ and the best expected stats of his career.
The injury is particularly challenging for the Seattle Mariners at this moment. Dylan Moore is out, having joined Robles and Ryan Bliss in the trainer’s room. Stunning offense from Jorge Polanco is more than making up for his continued necessitation of DH duties, but because he cannot field nor hit righty, the M’s are platooning all over the place and hoping the debut of Ben Williamson continues to sparkle. They’ll now need to lean on their reserves even harder, if possible. Miles Mastrobuoni’s disciplined approach has him playing most days against lefties, but he is fundamentally not a slugger. For Raley’s reps, it could be a mixture of Mastrobuoni, recently recalled Samad Taylor, and/or the man called up today to take Raley’s spot: rookie OF Rhylan Thomas.
This is Thomas’ first taste of the big leagues, as the 11th round pick in the 2022 draft for the New York Mets has ground his way up through the minors on a steady diet of line drives. The lefty swinger was a strong performer at USC before posting incredibly consistent numbers with the Mets all the way through Triple-A in 2024. Last year, Seattle acquired the now-25 year old in exchange for RHP Ryne Stanek, and Thomas continues to deliver the same recipe. He does not strike out, punching out just four times this year thus far in 104 plate appearances with the Rainiers.
A glance at a swing from Thomas can explain some of this, as well as why homers like the one below are not a major part of his game.
Thomas says he feels like the Mariners, who preach the up-the-middle-philosophy constantly, might have targeted him specifically as a player because that’s such a big part of his approach. “That’s who I’ve been my entire career, but I also think I fit this profile of a Mariners baseball player very well, and I think that we work together in trying to create the baseball player that they want me to be and that I know that I am. They encourage me to be myself every single day, so that’s amazing.”
“From a young age I was always undersized, I was never going to hit a bunch of home runs, I was never going to have crazy power numbers, but I could always hit. Growing up, I’ve always been able to hit, and that’s what got me here, along with taking pride in my defense every single day. I take pride in defense, that’s one thing you can always control along with your attitude on the basepaths and in the box, so just knowing that’s who I need to be every day, that’s what got me here.”
Thomas’s swing is flat, geared to contact, and Thomas is aggressive to slap line drives all over the place. This is a high BA, low OBP, low SLG profile from a rangy defender whose glovework outpaces his base stealing despite solid foot speed. Thomas will get his first taste of the bigs this week after getting some significant looks during spring training with the big-league club.
“I was just thankful to be there,” said Thomas of his time in the spring. “I didn’t know what to expect in my first big-league camp, but being there and seeing how everyone here went about their business, that just made me a big leaguer that much more, it was awesome…Everyone that I was surrounded with in this organization made me feel like I was a big leaguer every day.”
Thomas joins a raft of other Tacoma Rainiers who have been summoned to the Mariners to cover injuries, including Ben Williamson, Logan Evans, and most recently, Samad Taylor, who stood behind Thomas during his meeting with the press doing celebratory hand gestures until the latest rookie acknowledged him.
“It was awesome seeing them go up and celebrating with them, and now getting to share the same locker room with them as a big leaguer is amazing,” said Thomas. “As a group, we supported each other and knew how to encourage each other to be who we are. You know who Ben is, you know who Samad is, you know what kind of players they are—they’re amazing players, but they do the right things every single day to make sure that the player they know they are is the player they show up as every single day. So I think just being around guys like Samad and Ben pushing me and encouraging me to be that person that I am every single day is what made us so great.”
“I think things were going great [in Tacoma],” said Thomas. “I think I was really comfortable in the box, and defensively I’ve shown I can be a big leaguer. And because of that I’m here and [the Mariners] believe in me, and that’s the biggest part. They believe in me, and I believe in myself, and that’s how you get things done at this level.”