• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Seattle Sports Today

Seattle Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Football
    • Seahawks
    • Dragons
  • Mariners
  • Storm
  • Kraken
  • Soccer
    • Sounders FC
    • OL Reign
    • Stars
  • Colleges
    • Eastern Washington
    • Gonzaga
    • University of Washington
    • Washington State

Mariners Option Mallex Smith To Triple-A

May 13, 2019 by MLB Trade Rumors Leave a Comment

The Mariners announced Tuesday that they’ve optioned center fielder Mallex Smith to Triple-A Tacoma and recalled outfielder Braden Bishop in his place.

Certainly, that’s not the outcome Seattle hoped for when reacquiring Smith from the Rays as part of the offseason’s Mike Zunino swap. Smith, fresh off a .296/.367/.406 performance and controlled for another four years, was viewed as the hopeful center fielder of the future for the Mariners. That may very well be the case, but it had become increasingly difficult for the organization to look past the fleet-footed 25-year-old’s early struggles in 2019.

Smith has taken 110 plate appearances with the Mariners this year but managed only a .165/.255/.247 batting line in that time. His strikeout rate has skyrocketed from just 18 percent in 2018 to 30 percent in 2019, while his line-drive rate has fallen by nearly 10 percent as well. The drop in liners and hard-hit balls notwithstanding, Smith’s .234 average on balls in play still seems like it should bounce back, particularly given his considerable speed, but the contact issues he’s experiencing are something he’ll try to remedy in a lower-pressure environment in Tacoma.

From a service time perspective, the injury to Smith isn’t likely to change his trajectory. He entered the season with two years, 125 days of MLB service time already under his belt, meaning he need only acquire 47 days of service in 2019 to surpass the three-year mark and remain on track for free agency following the 2022 season. Smith has already acquired nearly that much service time, so he’s essentially a lock to reach three years of service time if he returns to the Majors at any point in 2019 (which seems quite likely). He’ll be arbitration-eligible in each of the next three offseasons.

With Smith in the minors for now, the Mariners can rely on Bishop in center field or slider Mitch Haniger from right field to center. In the latter scenario, Domingo Santana and Jay Bruce could man the outfield corners, with Daniel Vogelbach and Edwin Encarnacion working at first base and at designated hitter.

Filed Under: Mariners

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Jody Allen: Seahawks not for sale now, no timeline to sell team
  • Report: Seahawks have never had strong interest in Baker Mayfield
  • Reports sharply conflict on whether Seahawks want Baker Mayfield
  • Mariners sweep Padres, move within 1 game of .500
  • Jody Allen: Seahawks, Blazers not for sale at this time

Categories

  • Colleges
    • Eastern Washington
    • Gonzaga
    • University of Washington
    • Washington State
  • Football
    • Seahawks
  • Kraken
  • Mariners
  • Soccer
    • OL Reign
    • Sounders FC
    • Stars
  • Storm
  • Uncategorized

Archives

Our Partners


All Sports

  • 247 Sports
  • Bleacher Report
  • Emerald City Swagger
  • Everett Herald
  • OurSports Central
  • Root Sports Northwest
  • Seattle Times
  • Spokane Spokesman-Review
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today

Baseball

  • MLB.com
  • Last Word On Baseball
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Lookout Landing
  • Sodo Mojo

Basketball

  • High Post Hoops

Football

  • Seattle Seahawks
  • 12th Man Rising
  • Field Gulls
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • NFL Trade Rumors
  • Our Turf Football
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Seahawks Gab
  • Total Seahawks

Hockey

  • Last Word On Hockey

Soccer

  • Last Word on Soccer - Sounders
  • Last Word on Soccer - OL Reign
  • MLS Multiplex
  • Sounder At Heart

Colleges

  • Busting Brackets
  • College Football News
  • College Sports Madness
  • Last Word On College Basketball - Gonzaga
  • Saturday Blitz
  • The Slipper Still Fits
  • Coug Center
  • UW Dawg Pound
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in