The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles have announced the signing of outfielder/first baseman Jose Marmolejos. According to Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto (Twitter link), “multiple Japanese teams” were scouting Marmolejos last season.
Marmolejos turns 29 in January, and is coming off a season that saw him win MVP honors in Triple-A West. Over 83 games and 353 plate appearances with the Mariners’ affiliate in Tacoma, Marmolejos hit .338/.439/.672 with 26 home runs. Between this performance and some other big numbers with the Nationals’ Triple-A club in 2019, it seems as though Marmolejos doesn’t have much left to prove at the top minor league level, though he has yet to translate that production to the majors.
Appearing in 76 games with the Mariners in 2020-21, Marmolejos has hit only .183/.262/.362 with 10 homers in 237 PA against big league pitching. Seattle designated him for assignment and outrighted him off its 40-man roster twice last season, which allowed Marmolejos to opt for free agency after the season, and he exercised that right back in October.
It’s easy to see why NPB teams would have interest in Marmolejos’ services, and with the Eagles specifically, he could slide right into the role occupied by former big leaguer Brandon Dixon in 2021. (As per reporter Jim Allen, Dixon won’t be back with the Tohuku club next year after struggling last season.) Marmolejos could be in line for regular work as a corner outfielder, and could also see time as a first baseman depending on how the Eagles align their roster.
Damnit.
He’s gonna crush it over there!
I’m sure he’ll go over there and rake. Hopefully he can take that success and turn it into something here in the MLB at some point.
Everyone thinks foreign players will rake overseas…see Brandon Dixon comment
I don’t think all will, but I do think he will. He’s on the cusp of putting it all together. He just needs time and consistency, if he can get that I think he can do something over there.
He’ll be paid better overseas- he deserves it. Its a shame he was never able to be consistent at the ML level. He’s certainly proved he can handle AAA pitching.
I’ll remember “Marmo” for the come from behind win (for a change!) where we scored 4R’s off Pressly to beat the Astros. I think MLB TV channel did the National broadcast in that game? He came through with the big tie-breaking 2R single w 2 outs in the 9th!!
The 2021 season had so many moments like that for us M’s fans. Good luck with the Golden Eagles big man!
Whenever I see this last name I always sing it to the tune of Bamboleo by the Gipsy Kings just because it has the right flow and number of syllables for it to work. Try it out.
I’m glad it’s not only me!
for me it’s smooth operator.
Marmolejos should hit well unlike Dixon because Dixon had worse numbers in AAA than Marmolejos.
And just like that, another one slips thru due to the lockout.. lol
I’m surprised FZ didn’t lock him down.
Marmolehos was pretty good in clutch situations, or so it seemed to me.
That’s one thing I always watch for in younger players.
(That and ability to hit the curveball)
Lack of those abilities is what kept Gil Hodges out of the HOF, decade after decade, and only mercy finally got him in this year.
Fred- Doesnt get more clutch than his two outs in the 9th inn tie breaking 2R single off Pressly. Remember that one? JP Crawford hit a 2R HR right after him?
He had just been promoted after the end of a magical season in Tacoma…hopefully he excels in the Miyagi prefecture. He’s had a few great moments in an M’s uniform
I sure do remember that one,, ayrbhoy. The beautiful thing about such a clutch hit, is that is probably gives the next guy up (JP Crawford in that case) a mental edge over the pitcher, whoever he is.
A good clutch hit can often break the game wide open.
“Clutchness” might not count for much in today’s analytics, but it is definitely a factor.
Hodges drove in both runs in the 7th game of the 1955 series. Had tons of RBIs. Very much doubt that anyone did not vote for him based on the alleged lack of clutch hitting ability. And he got more HOF votes from the writers than anyone who had not been selected.
Right. I remember that 1955 series well.
Hodges was good in the clutch.
But generally, the knock always was that he couldn’t usually hit the curve.
No one ever figured out why the discrepancy: Why he could hit a curveball in the clutch but not in regular games.
Fred who (names I will google) exactly are the sources of this claim that the “knock always was that he couldn’t hit the curve” (in the clutch)?
dodger1958, I didn’t say that.
I said he couldn’t hit the curveball well most of the time.
You expect me to remember what sportswriters said that, sixty years ago?
It was common knowledge.
What are you 150 yrs old
I’m 85.
In 1955 I was in a Navy school at Great Lakes Naval Training Center in North Chicago.
At that time even a poor sailor could afford admission into Wrigley Field.
I was already a Dodgers fan, so when they played the Cubs I tried to catch every game if I could.
Gil Hodges was one of my heroes over the years that followed. When the Dodgers moved to LA in 1958 I was on the USS St Paul heavy cruiser, home port Long Beach, Calif.
I’m still a Dodgers fan, even after the Mariners started in Seattle in 1977. I became a Mariners fan then, also.
So I’m an ancient hybrid, I guess.
Good opportunity for him. A chance for him to refine his skills and make some money while the billionaires take on the millionaires here in the states.
Marmalade’s MLB chances are toast.
His start to the season was horrible. I kept asking my friends why they don’t send this guy down. Clutch? Not in the first of the season. Killed some opportunities and finally was sent down. I’ll admit with the AAA success he had, I was interested in seeing what he might do in a return. Better for sure but not convinced he was going to be the answer moving forward.