Mariners Grant Cole Tucker His Release

The Mariners have granted infielder/outfielder Cole Tucker his release, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Tucker had been in camp on a non-roster deal but will back to the free agent market in search of another opportunity.

Tucker, 27, inked a minor league pact back in late January. He’s received just 14 plate appearances this spring and gone 2-for-10 with a pair of singles and four walks. He’d been vying for a bench spot, but the M’s already have a platoon of Josh Rojas and Luis Urias at third base (meaning one will be on the bench most days), plus fellow infielder/outfielder Dylan Moore locked into one bench spot. Outfielder Dominic Canzone’s big spring could push him onto the Opening Day roster as well, which would mean the final roster spot would go to the out-of-options Luke Raley, who’s sure to make the team despite struggling through 30 plate appearances in camp.

The No. 24 overall pick by the Pirates back in 2014, Tucker hasn’t lived up to his former top prospect status through a series of mostly limited looks in the majors. Though he’s appeared in parts of five big league seasons, he’s never topped 159 plate appearances in any of those years. He’s a career .216/.266/.318 batter in 459 trips to the plate at the MLB level. He carries a more palatable .250/.350/.382 line in just over 1100 Triple-A plate appearances, and he’s walked in a robust 13% of those plate appearances against a manageable 22.1% strikeout rate.

After working exclusively as a shortstop earlier in his career, Tucker has since logged time across all three outfield spots, at second base and at both infield corners. The switch-hitter is capable of playing just about any spot on the diamond and could latch on elsewhere as a depth piece for another team. Tucker is out of minor league options, so while he’s likely to sign a minor league pact wherever he lands next, he’d need to be kept on the 40-man roster once selected or else exposed to waivers before he could be sent back to Triple-A.