THE GARVER GAMBLE: Injury Concerns Spark Nervousness for Mariner’s Catcher
Seattle Mariners catcher/designated hitter Mitch Garver left Monday’s spring training game after being hit by a pitch in the hand/wrist area.
X-ray results weren’t available after the game but we can expect an update to come in on Tuesday.
And color me nervous about it.
Look, I understand that Garver had a dreadful first year in Seattle, hitting just .172 with 15 homers and 51 RBI. Some of you might not think that’s a big loss if he’s out for a significant amount of time, but I do.
The bottom line is this: The Seattle Mariners are not built to withstand injuries. Because of work not done in the offseason, the M’s have a very slim margin for error, and taking Garver out reduces it even further. Even with his struggles, he still hit 15 home runs last season, and given the offseason work and the work with Edgar Martinez/Kevin Seitzer, it’s reasonable to expect that he’ll hit more in 2025.
He’s hitting .444 in spring training with three homers in just 18 at-bats, so things have been ticking upwards. Let’s say Garver could hit 20 homers this season, do you think the M’s are built to withstand the loss of a 20-home run hitter?
In a league where the Mariners have missed the playoffs by 1.0 game in each of the last two seasons, any little disturbance to your season can be the difference between playing in October and sitting home, and I’m certainly nervous about what this potential disturbance could mean.
