Who Should Be At Shortstop For Mariners!

This last season the shortstop position was mostly handled by Ketel Marte who played for his second season on the Mariners and for the first full season. Like what happens often a player does struggle in his second season in the major leagues however the big question going into 2017 can the Mariners afford him to have another off-season?

Actually the answer more is for his fielding than his hitting. He plays at one of the three most important positions on the field. Those are the three that they call up the middle. Catcher, shortstop and centerfield; the Mariners are pretty good defensively at catcher in Mike Zunino and Jesus Sucre along with Leonys Martin in centerfield however Marte is not the shortstop need at this time. He starts 2017 at the age of 23 so he actually still has time to become a very good shortstop. The Mariners can handle his hitting because it was decent but in both seasons his fielding percentages were .960 and .959. If you look at Zach Cozart who the Mariners tried to trade for at the trading deadline his fielding percentage was .980. The problem with Marte’s fielding had to do with making the routine plays. He had no problem making some spectacular play however at times he would throw the ball away. A great example of that was at the end of the season when he threw the ball away in two crucial games down the stretch. You could say that the Mariners may have made the playoffs if those plays had not happened. In both games the opposition scored four unearned runs in the inning that he threw the ball away. We don’t know whether they would have won the games or not but the chances would have been pretty good. In both cases the Mariners were ahead.

Right now the place the Mariners are going they need to go with a veteran shortstop whether it is Zach Cozart who I am sure they will try to acquire once again or go for someone else. Ketel Marte most likely will be sent down to play next season in triple A primarily to work on his defense. He has showed that he can hit in the major leagues but he has to show that he can play shortstop in the major leagues. In my opinion his future position is more to be second base; if that is the case than the Mariners likely will look to trade him since Robinson Cano is a fixture at second base and there is no one better than him.

As far as Cozart goes he has a one year contract remaining on his contract. Not sure whether the Mariners are looking to sign him to an extension or let him leave after one season. At the start of last season besides Marte they had Chris Taylor and Luis Sardinas on their 40 ma roster however they traded both them away. Among the Mariners top minor league prospects Drew Jackson a fifth round draft pick in 2015 is considered the Mariners number three prospect. Right now don’t know whether he will be ready to play in 2018 if Marte is not ready to go. Also they have Tyler Smith who played a lot of shortstop in Tacoma last year but not sure whether the Mariners consider him to be someone to play for them as a regular anytime soon. I am sure that Dipoto will look into acquiring Cozart during the off-season along with some other shortstops that could be available. It would be difficult to keep Marte at shortstop for another season unless he works a lot during the off-season and sees a lot of improvement in his fielding. So right now it is see what happens at short. Go M’s.