The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of third baseman Ben Williamson. In corresponding moves, outfielder Dominic Canzone was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma, and Ryan Bliss was moved to the 60-day injured list to create space on the 40-man roster.
Since multiple injuries up and down the roster have left the Mariners in need of infield reinforcements, the door was opened for Williamson to earn the first call-up of his three-year career as a professional. Williamson only made his Triple-A debut this season and has hit a modest .281/.317/.333 in 60 plate appearances in Tacoma, but the M’s can’t afford to be too picky given their lack of depth at the big league level.
Williamson was a second-round pick for the Mariners in the 2023 draft, and he has a total career slash line of .281/.366/.389 over 645 PA, with four home runs and 22 steals (in 29 attempts). MLB Pipeline ranks him 13th on their list of Seattle prospects and Baseball America has him 14th, with BA’s scouting report describing Williamson as “a pest at the plate” due to his high contact rates and on-base skills. While Williamson makes a lot of contact, he has lacked in hard contact and in overall power, as evidenced by his uninspiring slugging percentages even at the minor league level.
This may not be the ideal profile for a Mariners team in sore need of consistent hitting, but Williamson does offer immediate defensive help at third base. He is regarded as an excellent fielder who can also chip in at second or shortstop, but the hot corner seems like his natural spot since regular third baseman Jorge Polanco has been limited to DH duty. Williamson is a right-handed hitter that could pair with the lefty-swinging Miles Mastrobuoni in a platoon situation until Polanco is healthy enough to return to the field.
Since the Mariners are reportedly scanning the trade market for other infielders, Williamson might just be in line for a cup of coffee in the majors if Seattle can land some more experienced help elsewhere. Beyond Polanco’s ongoing knee and side discomfort, Luke Raley has now moved from first base to the outfield in the wake of Victor Robles’ shoulder fracture, and Bliss will miss the next 4-5 months after undergoing surgery to fix a torn left biceps. It was just a matter of time before the Mariners moved Bliss from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL in order to free up a 40-man roster spot.
I mean the hitting can’t get much worse and the defense has been tough to watch
Actually the hitting has been a lot better lately and I’ve seen some deft work by JP Crawford and Julio in the field. So don’t really know what you’re talking about, do ya pardner?
Julio and JP’s def isn’t in question
The defense at third, specifically, has been terrible.
Williamson has been good at adjusting to each level, so hopefully he’ll do it again.
This was definitely about defense, though, even if only as a late-innings replacement
The team is still batting .210 ranked 25th in the league. Yes a lot better recently but we are comparing it to a really low bar. Almost everyone is batting under .200 🤢
Seattle is 13th out of 30 teams with a 103 WRC+.
Because—and everyone sing it with me—batting average is a rotten way to evaluate total offense!
Intrigued but concerned it might be a bit too early.
Imagine how much our lineup would change if this guy can hit for an 800 ops at 3rd base or 2nd
That’s my pipedream
Share the pipe!
Won’t happen with his nonexistent power.
He doesn’t have to hit for power. Good plate discipline and his ability to use the gaps could produce a respectable OPS.
I just have my doubts about that happening soon. They’re really jumping the fun.
Do you know anything about his defensive profile, Stevil? I’m guessing they want someone to put at third so they can have Dylan play more 2nd. I know he’s played the majority of his time since college at 3rd but I have no idea if he’s any good. My assumption is that he must have impressed Perry and Dan enough this spring that they feel like they can work with him there. I know he sees the strike zone well and will take a good amount of walks, but the high strikeouts with such little pop is a bit concerning. Looks like he can steal some bags for you as well
He’s probably the best defensive third base prospect in baseball.
Shannon Drayer noted they may use him in a platoon at third, which would indeed allow them to maximize the strengths of Mastrobuoni and Moore as well (at second).
And he could still be used for his speed as a pinch runner, then serve as a defensive replacement late in games.
I’m warming up to this, but he just got to AAA.
An .800 OPS this year would be about 130 WRC+. It would make Williamson the #3-4 offensive player on the Mariners, ahead of Arozarena. We live in difficult offensively times.
Yeah just what they need, a dude with a 650 OPS in the Pacific Coast League. Just make a frickin’ trade and give up one of your serious prospects. Just a league average major league infielder would be a massive improvement.
Elite defense mean anything to you, friend?
Not really no. Good defensive third basemen are pretty common, and it’s not like Williamson is prime Arenado. Mariners desperately need someone who can swing a stick. Their pitchers can overcome mediocre D.
Then you haven’t watched the guys playing third this year. Range aside, unless they get the guys who designed Lamar Latrell’s javelin to design a baseball, our third basemen are straining getting it across the diamond at this point when they do pick it clean.
The arm strength over there is seriously lacking. Williamson will fix that up, but I have a feeling that he’s gonna be absolutely atrocious with the bat.
Watching Polanco attempt 3B that couple of times this year is way too many times.
Well Williamson is considered to be arguably the best defensive player in the minors, so he could be prime Arenado defensively and it wouldn’t be surprising.
He is seen as the best third baseman defensively in the minors and one of the best defensively overall.
I wouldn’t downplay the value of his defense, but I share your preference for an established hitter(s).
Just answered my question. I’m looking forward to seeing him
It’s highly likely there’s no trade of consequence to be had right now. It’s too early for any teams to be out of it and looking to sell, so every team will put Lamborghini prices on Nissan-level players. It should have happened in the offseason, but it didn’t happen although not for lack of trying.
What team has the good players that they can afford to trade for prospects right now?
The time for meaningful trades has long passed and won’t come again until July. JerryJustin is stuck with these guys now. Polanco simply can’t play the field any more, so this is a solid call. If you look at the Mariners batting stats (I’d suggest having smelling salts nearby), you’ll see that .650 OPS would be in the top half of all batters. I’ll take it with that stellar defense that will save at least a half-dozen runs.
No one is trading MLB ready players for high ranking prospects right now. Otherwise we would’ve made a move like that this off-season. We can probably move Ford now that Cal is signed.
Defense plays at any level, really just a matter of the bat. Even if he doesn’t hit the cover off, if he can get bat to ball and at least put it in play at a decent clip he should be fine
My fear is they platoon him and he doesnt play every day…….. hes not in the lineup today for,instance….
Not unusual to not be in the lineup on the first day. Soak it in and be ready to come off the bench!
Williamson can hit, so what if he doesn’t have much power.
You know who has a ton of power but a career BA below .200? Joey Gallo. Yeah, he just transitioned to pitching.
This could be the best hitting transaction the Mariners have made in a while.
We have Rowdy Tellez playing the Gallo role , thanks though. Perhaps your Giants could use some power too, so go right on ahead.
I doubt it. Williamson just slaps ground balls everywhere, once he’s up against MLB pitching and defenses that batting average will match Gallo’s, minus that power.
Williamson’s upside right now—his 90th percentile success—is Rojas. While that may play, imagine if the M’s had Rojas, the genuine anrticle, instead of Solano, Rowdy, or Mastrobuoni? Cutting Rojas was the biggest unforced error of the offseason.
Rojas should never be considered a genuine article. Last year, he started off hot and faded quickly. He was a good defensive 3B. Williamson is an excellent defensive 3B at or near gold glove levels. That’s not an exaggeration either. I’m not saying he’s going to be elite, but I’d take him over Rojas, who’s injured and yet to play this year.
Rojas is injured. And he was a decent stop gap player but he wore down as the season went on.
Great fielder. Maybe a pest at the plate without power is a batting profile that won’t suffer much from Safeco
Williamson has a strong floor because of his D, but I’m concerned that he’s another bat who will flounder in the big leagues.
I’m glad I could help the Mariners make a smart decision and bring up Williamson. They can thank me later.
mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/mariners-exploring-infi…
It’s a trap!
Yeah right Yorky except there’s been talk about Jerry bringing up Williamson for the last couple weeks, just needed to get some more at-bats at AAA because he had a good Spring.
@Ignorant Son-of-a-b
Seatdump wouldn’t know when to bring up good players without my expertise.
They probably just use ChatGPT like you
Called it!
I expect that rumblin’, stumblin’, bumblin’ Rowdy saved his job (for the moment) with that double last night. After the opt-out option on May 2, he could be optioned to Tacoma because he originally signed a minor league deal.As for Williamson, I’ve been watching him on MiLB.tv and his defense really has been spectacular. And remember, if he can hit .200, he’s a better hitter than half the squad right now. I’d rather see him (and Locklear and Ford) than Solano, who should be on the DFA “sunk costs” train with Garver.
Garver can at least back up Cal for the time being until Ford is actually ready.
Rowdy cannot be optioned.
Zips loves this guy. If it’s right they have a quality regular, a meh but serviceable bat and a plus plus glove. Steamer sees a less serviceable bat and more plus than plus plus glove. I’d take the difference between them as a stop gap. One can hope. I have concerns about his bat actually playing up in the majors but at least one can hope. Scouts and metrics love his glove though.
But, Does this bat smell like crap to you ?
So should we have picked up Bregman for 40 mil a year for 75 rbis and 26 homeruns? Playing 81 games at T-Mobile, those numbers would probably be closer to 16 possibly 20 homeruns and 55 t0 65 rbis. With pretty good defense yes.But I would rather see plus plus defense and contact at t mobile. That park is built for small ball. It needs small ball hitters and base stealers. A big stick just costs money to become a mediocre stick.