The Mariners today provided an update on outfielder Víctor Robles, who was placed on the 10-day injured list yesterday due to a left shoulder dislocation. Today’s update says that the dislocation caused a small fracture in the humeral head in his left shoulder. The club believes that the fracture will heal without surgery, though Robles will be continually monitored to ensure that is the case. Even if he does continue to avoid surgery, the club estimates it will take him six weeks to heal, followed by a six-week rehab process. That suggests he will miss about 12 weeks even in a best-case scenario.
Of course, if there are any setbacks along the way or if it’s determined that Robles will instead require surgical intervention, that timeline would change. In either scenario, given that Robles is already looking at an absence that would extend to around the All-Star break, doubts about his ability to return this season could arise. For now, however, the Mariners are surely relieved that the injury doesn’t look to be season-ending in nature.
Robles, 27, was a longtime top prospect with the Nationals who debuted in as a 20-year-old in 2017 but never quite found his footing as a regular in Washington. He looked on the cusp of a breakout when he hit .258/.328/.430 with plus defense in 2018-19, his age-21 and age-22 seasons, but in 1124 plate appearances from 2020 through the time of his release last May, he batted only .222/.301/.308.
The Mariners signed Robles to a big league deal early last June and were almost immediately rewarded for their show of faith. He filled a bench role early on but played so well in a limited role that he forced himself into the everyday lineup before long. In 77 games with Seattle, Robles turned in a superlative .322/.393/.467 batting line with four homers, 20 doubles and an eye-catching 30 steals in just 31 tries.
Robles was never going to sustain the .388 average on balls in play that propped up his batting line, but he also showed vastly improved contact skills, cutting the 24% strikeout rate he’d displayed from 2020-24 (27.3% with the Nats last year) all the way to 16.8% as a Mariner.
With Seattle, Robles proved much more aggressive, increasing his swing rate at pitches over the plate by several percentage points and also improving his contact rate on said swings. He swung at only 49% of pitches over the plate up through the 2023 season and made contact on 84.5% of those swings; with the Mariners, he offered at 53% of pitches in the zone and made contact at an 87.1% clip.
Even with some expected regression, the Mariners’ version of Robles looked like a more balanced hitter than the one who’d spent several years struggling in D.C. The Mariner front office clearly believed that to be the case, as Robles inked a two-year, $9.75MM contract covering his first two free agent years last summer. The deal spans the 2025-26 campaigns and includes a club option for 2027.
Now, Robles will spend around half of that contract’s first season (at least) on the shelf. He’d been slotted in as the everyday right fielder with Randy Arozarena in left field and Julio Rodriguez in center field. The Robles injury likely paves the way for more Luke Raley to see more outfield time. He’d originally been expected to play more first base in 2025, but a big performance in spring training from Rowdy Tellez forced the Mariners to reevalute. Seattle released Mitch Haniger and committed to Tellez and Raley splitting the load between first base and DH.
Raley and Dominic Canzone figure to get more time in the outfield. It’s also possible that utilitymen Miles Mastrobuoni and Dylan Moore could log some reps there. All three of Raley, Canzone and Mastrobuoni are left-handed hitters, so a platoon arrangement among them isn’t likely. Raley and the righty-hitting Moore could make sense as an on-paper platoon, but Moore has been used as an infielder exclusively thus far and played a career-low 138 innings in the outfield last year.
However it shakes out, the Robles injury is a significant setback for a Mariners club that currently ranks 21st in the majors in runs scored (36). It’s also likely to result in a defensive downturn; the early marks from Robles this season have been uncharacteristically below average, but he’s generally graded as a strong defender in center and is viewed as a potential plus defender in a corner.
3 months sounds better
But that 13th week.
After watching the play that Victor got injured in, it really looks like the San Francisco Giants need to redesign that outfield corner. I am guessing that Victor is not the first right fielder to be injured out there.
As far as I know, he IS the first. There’s nothing wrong with that wall. Robles made an incredible effort and catch. It’s just a shame as he’s finally starting to round into the player the Nats thought they had.
as far as I have seen he is the first (and I have been watching since that ballpark was opened) . it is no different than any other park with field level seats, guys just don’t normally launch themselves face first into the stands like that . it is a brutal injury but I can guarantee you it would have been worse if but for the net since he would have gone face first into the seats.
As someone who’s also been watching since the park opened, idk if he makes it to seats or faceplants in the alley right there. It would’ve been way worse my guess if the net wasn’t there to catch him.
Actually Victor Robles is the first, at least, in 25 years! As he was being seen to by the medical staff San Francisco announcers Kruik and Kype said exactly that= they’ve never seen anyone attempt to make a catch in that section of the Park in the 25 years they’ve been covering home games in that Park.
Is that because RFers just don’t attempt catches near that spot for fear of injury or have there been a limited amount of foul balls blown into that one small area of the field of play? Who knows? I know this- in the 25 yrs K&K have been covering Giants games there just cannot be many balls going to that spot at THAT precise stage of a game. Late innings of a close game. When Victor ran that ball down late in a tight game he knew that catch at THAT stage of the game, the highest leverage moment so far, could very well be an out that could be the difference in winning that game for his team.
Tbh It’s possible Victor doesn’t even chase that down if SEA was off to a good start this year or if they hadn’t lost the previous 2 games? They’re obviously not but maybe that was also a factor in VR’s decision to attempt to make that catch at that stage in the game?
The people that are making scurrilous comments in hindsight about Victor being reckless, saying he shouldn’t have made that play because a lengthy injury will be bad for the team are forgetting one thing. Professional athletes (not named Anthony Rendon) are some of the fiercest most driven humans on the planet. They don’t have an On/Off switch and they most certainly don’t have the luxury of making a split second decision in hindsight.
I am not going to fault him for being aggressive but it is always lame when guys do it on a foul ball like that. I get that you are trying to make the out but there is a big difference colliding with a wall on a catch in the OF and going into the net like that to go for a foul.
Brutal injury, amazing catch. Let’s hope he can avoid surgery and another delay in returning to play.
Hopefully no permanent damage and he can return healthy post the All-Star break.
Fingers crossed. The M’s need all the help they can get.
I’ve really loved Robles career revitalization in Seattle and truly hope and pray it doesn’t derail his career
Tellez forced himself onto the roster but isn’t doing anything to stay on it.
The M’s might have to call Haniger, they’re still paying him regardless, might as well put him in the lineup
He’d probably tell them to piss off.
Yeah he’s too busy in his bathrobe and chaise lounge watching Dukes of Hazzard reruns on the VCR to pick up the phone?
Tellez has looked really bad at the plate. He’s had some nice plays at first base, however. He needs to get the bat going. Is JD Martinez still out there?
While that could be a possibility, I believe he is still injured and then would need a ramp up in the minors to get ready. Either way, Tellez or Canzone have a short period of time before the Mariners have to go in another direction and get help.
Here’s some good news. Robles will be back with the Mariners down the stretch when it matters the most.
Canzone cannelloni ain’t gonna do it for ya Dippy! Thank God I switched teams! LFGM! Mariners franchise are a bunch of losers…
Bummer, and there goes the center fielder on my team, hope he heals up
Raley’s way better at getting on base than Canzone, and if they gave him most of the outfield time—like 50 games until Robles is back—they could score an extra 12 to 22 runs. Raley hit .243 with a .320 on-base in 2024 for Seattle, while Canzone’s stuck at .231 and .302 from Triple-A last year. That gap means Raley’s worth almost half a run more per game.
Another lack of coaching experience cost the Ms their second extra innings loss in a week. Wilson is as bad as the players.