The Mariners have agreed to a minor league pact with corner infielder Jason Vosler, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Vosler is represented by All Bases Covered Sports Management.
The 30-year-old Vosler has appeared in parts of three big league seasons between the Giants and, in 2023, the Reds. He logged 20 games and tallied 65 plate appearances in Cincinnati last year, getting out to a blistering start before quickly fading. Vosler belted three homers in his first 15 trips to the plate but managed just a .106/.160/.128 slash with 20 strikeouts in 50 subsequent plate appearances. The Reds designated him for assignment in late April and outrighted him Triple-A Louisville after he went unclaimed on waivers.
Vosler spent the remainder of the season in Louisville, where he batted .240/.333/.482 with 20 home runs in 363 plate appearances. The production was right in line with league-average levels in the International League, by measure of wRC+ (99). It was also rather closely in line with Vosler’s career output at that level; in parts of five seasons and in 1747 plate appearances in Triple-A, Vosler is a .265/.342/.485 batter.
While Vosler has been primarily a third baseman in his professional career (5303 innings), he’s logged more than 1400 innings at first base and just shy of 200 in left field. He’s a left-handed hitter and will give the Mariners some lefty depth at positions where they’re lacking in that regard. Right-handed hitters Brian Anderson (third base), Michael Chavis (both corners) and Tyler Locklear (first base) are among the organization’s upper-level corner options, but the team lacks many lefty hitters of note at the infield corners.
Heading into the 2024 season, it seems like the Mariners will roll out a platoon of right-handed-hitting Luis Urias and lefty Josh Rojas at the hot corner. Urias has been slowed in camp by some shoulder soreness dating back to his offseason stint in the Mexican Winter League, but he recently made his Cactus League debut and should have time to ramp up for the year, barring any further setbacks.
Maybe . .
. . aaah, who knows what Jerry and Co. are thinking?
But, they have the players and coaches to listen to, and we fans do not. So I’ve got to go with whatever Jerry does.
As a depth piece, Mariners have nothing to lose. Besides, he might be lightning in a bottle, good for a short time to help win some games like he did with the Reds a few times.
He was fun as a Giant.
I’m not quite sure why the M’s wanted the injury-prone Mitch Hanniger back. The S.F Giants acquired 3bman Chapman for about the same(yearly) $ as Hanniger’s getting and 3b is a position of need. I’m not the biggest Chapman fan, but at least he’s got a great glove and he can stay on the field.
Because when the club was making that move, They didn’t know that Chapman’s market would crash that far. All moves must also be viewed in time.
Gotta remember that the Mariners had need for at least 2 OF after the Kelenic trade. Haniger is a great leader and plays a solid RF when healthy. My bet is they rotate him at DH to try to reduce his workload.
Because they had a sunk cost in Robbie Ray’s contract to acquire Haniger. It didn’t require a new contractual commitment like it would have with Chapman.. Had they picked up Chapman instead, they would not have been able to find a taker for Ray’s contract that would have offset the financial burden.
Because they always knew they’d get JD Davis for a fraction of that and everything would be all good.
fan- it was a way to get rid of long term contract for a shorter one. Haniger is healty(for now), Ray is not, until later this year. So from the get go of this season- any production haniger can produce is a ++
also, the pitcher(whats his name) was flipped to MInn for Polonco. So thats a + also.
He helped the Reds win a few games with clutch hits early in the season. One against the Cubs I remember in particular.
Yes, if I remember correctly he hit a game-winning homerun against the Cubs early on in the season in 2021. He had a couple clutch hits for the Reds that season.
Yeah it was a home run off Smyly I believe. Last year not 2021 though.
Ah okay off by two seasons haha! I just remember it sucked the wind out of me so that’s probably why I didn’t remember the exact season thank you for clarifying!
As a Reds fan, it was a great moment lol. But hey there’s always Ian Happ to dampen the mood.
Forever Giant Jason Vosler. It really seems like Jerry and Farhan might be cousins or something because they certainly spend a lot of time on the phone with one another.
J.D. Davis is available now.
Vosler should have looked for an MLB minimum guarantee in the KBO this year. He looks like exactly the right talent level to be an everyday 3Bman in the KBO for a year or three
He sounds like a perfect example of a Quad-A guy.
This Voslser fellow seems intriguing in some ways he could be incomplete. He’s had a couple of stabs at MLB. play, not able to progress further. He starts out well enough then does this nose dive. There are other players not unlike him, We have one in Trammel not able to make the conversion over. they are Caught between this misunderstood mental barrier or this other fate of being a AAAA baseball player. Voslser just feels unsettled to me. Is there any more?