Mariner Shortstop

The Seattle Mariners are at about half way point of spring training with three weeks remaining until the regular season begins. The Mariners have a set lineup except at shortstop. In the outfield they will be platooning in left field and right field. How that continues will depend on the players. The same thing at shortstop will depend on how the two players Brad Miller and Chris Taylor perform these next three weeks. The loser likely will start the season at Tacoma in Pacific Coast League.

At this point the competition is fairly even. Both players so far are having very good spring trainings. The manager has not tipped his hand on who he favors to be the shortstop. It may come down to the final day of spring training. Personally I would like both players be on opening roster but that likely will not happen unless there is an injury; currently Willie Bloomquist is the backup at shortstop; however, he is coming off an injury he suffered near the end of last season. So far he does look like he will be ready for the season. Bloomquist is the primary utility player on the team where he will be backing up at all the infield positions. He is capable playing in the outfield as well but likely won’t play in the outfield because of the platooning in left and right fields. The only way both Miller and Taylor would be on the opening roster would be if an injury would happen to one of the infielders.

At this point I would say that Brad Miller may have a slight edge because he has the most major league experience. I see that each player has different skills to playing shortstop. Brad Miller hits left handed while Taylor bats right handed. I would say the player who wins out likely will because of the skills the Mariners will need at the beginning of the season. Brad Miller is considered the better hitter with more power while Taylor is considered the better fielder. Right now though I see both of them about even in both areas; Brad Miller has a lot of power to right center, and what is somewhat unusual when he hits home runs he usually hits two in a game. He should do will in Safeco Field because a left handed hitter with power to right center is a really good thing. If he does win the shortstop position he will have to start out better than he did last year. He struggled the first half of the season though he redeemed himself the second half of the season. I would say part of that was Chris Taylor by that time was on the team and pushed him. Both players had good second half of the season. They shared the position almost evenly. This happened after Willie Bloomquist was injured and did not return for the remaining of the season.

What does Chris Taylor bring to the table for the Mariners at shortstop is first of all he is good fielder; however, he is more of spray hitter than Miller. Other words he will be able to hit the ball to any place in the field. Miller is more of a pull hitter which can be an advantage if there is a runner on first base. Besides being a spray hitter Taylor does have some power to his bat as well. He may not hit as many home runs as Miller but he could hit a lot of doubles and some triples as well. As far as running the bases I think Taylor maybe faster but not by much.

I would say though the loser out of spring training may start in Tacoma you most likely see him some time during the season especially if one is struggling very badly or there is an injury in the infield. In a radio interview second baseman Robinson Cano did not favor one of them over the other but felt who did win the position could become an all-star player sometime in his career. I call that high praise for sure.

Personally I do like both players. I feel bad that one of them will not be the regular shortstop.  I think that they are so capable that most likely one of them will be traded. I would not say during this season unless it is around the trading deadline at the end of July. So good luck to both of them and let the best player win.