PEORIA, Ariz. – With most of the Mariners’ fans in attendance recognizing that it was his first game of any sort with the Mariners, Brendan Donovan received a healthy ovation as his name was announced to start the bottom of the first inning on Tuesday. It was the kind normally reserved for Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh and J.P. Crawford.
“I had some jitters,” Donovan said. “I’m not gonna lie. It’s a new team and first time playing, but for me, I just wanted to just be under control. I wanted to make sure I was going on good pitches, and I wanted to get something off the barrel.”
Acquired late in the offseason to fill an open infield spot at third base and, more importantly, hit atop the Mariners’ batting order with his career .361 on-base percentage, Donovan showed why he was so valued by Seattle.
Facing White Sox starter Anthony Kay – a left-handed pitcher – Donovan worked a 3-1 count, then yanked a hard single through the right side.
When he got to first and watched Raleigh’s massive frame digging in and filling up the entire batter’s box, Donovan couldn’t help but smile.
“I saw Cal come up, and I was thinking, ‘I’m in scoring position right now,’ ” he said. “So it was just making sure, looking for any chance I can to get an extra 90 feet, but also not taking the bat out of his hands. And then before you know it, the bases are loaded. And I thought, ‘This has the chance to be a really special lineup.’ ”
He isn’t the only one after the brief glimpse of the partial lineup the Mariners put out for Tuesday afternoon’s Cactus League game vs. the White Sox.
Raleigh worked a walk and Julio Rodriguez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Mariners came away with only one run from that situation. Josh Naylor’s ground ball up the middle was turned into a double play that allowed Donovan to score and Randy Arozarena struck out.
But in the third inning, the projected top of the Mariners order allowed manager Dan Wilson to dream a little about the production this season.
Facing right-handed reliever Wikelman Gonzalez, Donovan led off the inning with a single up the middle on a 1-0 changeup that ran away from him. Gonzalez tried to throw that same pitch to Raleigh in the first pitch of the count, hoping for a rollover ground ball. Instead, Raleigh drove the pitch, which was about two inches off the outside corner of the plate, over the wall in deep left-center for his first spring training homer.
“That ball was hammered,” Donovan said. “When it touches his bat, it’s loud. It was fun to see.”
Gonzalez came back to strike out Rodriguez, but Naylor worked an eight-pitch walk and Arozarena followed with a single to center and Luke Raley worked another walk to load the bases for Dominic Canzone. Unfortunately, his hard ground ball – exit speed 109 mph – turned into an inning-ending double play.
But in their first two trips to the plate, the Mariners’ first six hitters combined for five hits, four walks and three runs scored while loading the bases twice.
“The key to our lineup is putting at-bats together – back-to-back at-bats and grinding away,” Wilson said. “That’s what we’ve done. It’s what we did last year. We were just grinding pitchers down. When you see the depth that we can have in our lineup from top to bottom, there’s no easy out. It’s going to be a grind for the pitcher.”
Donovan complements the lineup with his multi-layered approach at the plate, which centers on the situation and what is needed from him to help the team win.
“You’re getting a true leadoff, a team-type of baseball player with Donovan,” Raleigh said. “You saw it today. In the past, that spot could be one-dimensional at times. Adding him and putting him in that role is complementary to our lineup. It lengthens your lineup and helps cause more problems for the pitchers knowing there’s somebody that going to constantly get on base and now you’ve got the middle of the order coming up right behind him.”
The Mariners are expected to have platoon looks in right field, second base and designated hitter. But given their projected roster, their lineup, particularly against right-handed starters, could be formidable.
A possible lineup vs. right-handed starting pitchers:
1. Brendan Donovan, 3B
2. Cal Raleigh, C
3. Julio Rodriguez, CF
4. Josh Naylor, 1B
5. Randy Arozarena, LF
6. Luke Raley, RF
7. Dom Canzone, DH
8. Cole Young, 2B
9. J.P. Crawford, SS
“J.P. is like another leadoff in there too,” Raleigh said. “He’s been an on-base machine his whole career, and a guy that fights pitches off, sees a lot of pitches during an at-bat, uses the whole field and can really cause problems for opposing pitchers. To have somebody like that in the nine-hole is pretty special.”
Raleigh was quick to note that a healthy Raley is being overlooked in terms of importance.
“He basically couldn’t use his oblique and just grinding through it last season,” Raleigh said. “If you can’t rotate, you can’t swing. I’m excited to talk about another 20-homer guy, who can bunt, a guy who can steal the bases and just another exciting player when he’s healthy. I know we’re going to get a good version of him.”
The lineup vs. a left-handed starter will be quite different with Victor Robles replacing Raley in right field, Rob Refsnyder at designated hitter if Raleigh isn’t in that spot and likely Leo Rivas at second base.