With rosters expanding from 26 to 28 today, the Mariners announced that they have selected catcher Harry Ford and right-hander Luke Jackson. They also recalled infielder Leo Rivas. In corresponding moves, they designated right-hander Sauryn Lao for assignment and released infielder Donovan Solano.
Ford, 22, is widely considered one of the top catching prospects — and top 100 overall prospects — in the industry. The former first-rounder has spent the whole season in Triple-A Tacoma, where he’s done nothing to dissuade that line of thinking. In his first 97 games and 458 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, Ford has turned in a terrific .283/.408/.460 batting line (125 wRC+). He’s homered 16 times, swiped seven bags and walked nearly as often (16.2%) as he’s struck out (19.2%).
There are natural questions about Ford’s long-term fit on a roster that also includes 2025 AL MVP candidate Cal Raleigh. The Mariners’ franchise catcher signed a six-year extension last offseason and has obviously substantially elevated his profile since putting pen to paper on that contract. The M’s could roster both catchers and rotate them between the catching and designated hitter spot. Having two catchers with that type of offensive potential would be a clear advantage, though there’ll likely be plenty of offseason attempts to pry Ford from the Mariners’ grasp. Seattle president of baseball operations is never one to shy away from bold trades, so he’ll presumably at least consider dealing from strength, if it addresses other areas of need.
For the time being, however, Ford will get his feet wet and bolster the Mariners’ catching depth while they chase down what looks like a very, very likely playoff berth. The Mariners currently trail the Astros by two games in the American League West but have a 2.5-game lead over the Rangers for the final Wild Card spot. Both the Houston and Texas rosters have recently been hit with several key injuries, while Seattle has remained generally healthy and also added some key lineup upgrades at the July trade deadline (Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor, most notably).
Jackson, 34, has spent the bulk of the season with the Rangers but also tossed 4 2/3 innings for the Tigers. He’s pitched to a 4.54 ERA in 39 2/3 innings overall. Once a key member of the Atlanta bullpen, Jackson was a rock in manager Brian Snitker’s 2021 bullpen as the Braves won the World Series. He tossed 63 2/3 innings with a 1.98 ERA, 26.8% strikeout rate, 11% walk rate and 31 holds. His elbow gave way the following spring, however, and Jackson missed all of 2022 following Tommy John surgery.
In three years since returning from surgery, Jackson’s results haven’t matched his pre-injury levels. He’s logged a combined 126 innings of 4.36 ERA ball. His strikeout rate is down to 23.6% in that time (and just 16.1% this year), while his walk rate climbed to nearly 12% (13.8% in 2025). Jackson’s average fastball is also down more than a mile per hour from his pre-surgery form.
Even with those red flags, he’ll get a look in the Seattle bullpen down the stretch. Jackson has plenty of experience in postseason races and high-leverage settings. That experience and his overall track record could prove beneficial for the M’s if he can get his command back on track. Jackson isn’t going to be thrust into ultra high-leverage spots anyhow, so he really only needs to function as a serviceable middle reliever.
Solano signed a one-year, $3.5MM deal over the winter. He had a dreadful start but heated up in the summer. However, Solano was signed due to his typically strong production against lefties — but struggled uncharacteristically versus southpaws (.181/.212/.245). He hit .348/.403/.478 in 77 plate appearances versus righties, but that was buoyed by a .407 BABIP he’s not likely to sustain. And, with the addition of Naylor as an everyday option at first base, the need for a short-side platoon bat at first base (who was unexpectedly struggling versus the lefties he was signed to help with) apparently ran out.
Lao, 26, made his big league debut this season but has only pitched 3 1/3 innings in the majors. He’s been tagged for three runs with a 4-to-1 K/BB ratio in that short sample. The rest of his season has been spent in Tacoma, where he’s pitched to a 3.13 ERA with a 25.9% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate in 69 innings of relief.
Lao, a former Dodger farmhand who signed as a minor league free agent last offseason, has averaged 93.5 mph on his four-seamer and 92.9 mph on his sinker in Triple-A. He’s also mixed in a mid-80s slider and upper-80s changeup. He has multiple minor league option years remaining and will now hit the waiver wire, where he’ll be made available to all 29 other clubs.
You know what Ford stands for? Fix it again Tony
That would be Harry Fiat.
Driving his Modelo A
That’s a Fiat lol
Yep
I thought it was found on road dead
Joke used to be Fix Or Repair Daily.
F****** Only Rolls Downhill
That’s a FIAT, Dale. I’ll tell you what the organization needs: Leadership. Seattle hasn’t felt any real pride since Jerry Dipoto went to Japan and vomited on the NPB commissioner.
His full first name is Harrison. He’d like you to get off his plane.
Thought it was first on race day.
Bout damn time
Exciting to see this guy play, he gets to play in a minor league ballpark this week to hit the ground running. Let’s see what he can do
It’s hard to envision Ford getting many PAs, but maybe that’s the point. He’ll get to watch and learn from Cal over the next month.
Solano wasn’t playing at all, so it isn’t a huge surprise that he was released, but Seattle is putting themselves in a precarious position as Polanco is now their backup for third and they no longer have a right-handed alternative for first.
It may prove to be insignificant, but this isn’t typical Dipoto-era roster management.
Anyway, I’m glad Rivas is up and it will be fun to see how Ford does.
We were already in a precarious backup IF situation; the moment we released D-Mo was the beginning of that. Solano can’t play defense anywhere anymore and his bat wasn’t a threat to begin with (although I understand and still agree with your point about not having a RHH option there).
I know Rivas isn’t ticketed for reps there, but regardless, in the year 2025, I’d trust him at any IF position more than I’d trust Solano.
I agree, but it’s worth noting that Hollander said Solano was their backup at third, which obviously suggests that Polanco was lower on the totem pole.
Maybe Rivas will start getting pre-game work at the hot-corner. They’re seemingly banking on Geno and Naylor getting little rest.
I didn’t see those comments, but I wonder why that would have been the case. I would take Polanco on one leg to play 3B over a fully healthy Solano, but I have to think it’s health-related. I do think they made it clear that this didn’t mean much to them, though. They must trust Rivas can adapt well enough to be the backup. And I hope so because I would rather keep him around than bring Mastrobuoni back up.
Rivas will be the back up at third!!
He might be at some point soon, but he’s played one game there over the last three years.
May the force be with him…
I definitely question bringing him up if they aren’t going to give him immediate ABs, but Garver is awful so the bar to clear is low. Let the kid play.
contending teams bring up a third catcher n September to be able to provide flexibility in pinch-hitting and pinch-running for their catchers in the late innings.
It’s especially important to have a third catcher available for a team like Seattle, whose catchers, Raleigh and Garver, DH a lot. If both catchers are playing and the one that’s at DH that day gets hurt, you lose your DH and the pitcher has to bat the rest of the game.
It’ll give him a chance to get familiar with the pitchers, and give Raleigh more breaks to DH.
Donny bats had a hot streak and after that he was known as Donny no bats
What Rivas was doing in AAA hitting .328/.471 OBP with 10 HR and 24 SB ….and a switch hitter, no less….I could not figure out.
When sent down by the M’s, he was LEADING THE MARINERS IN BOTH BA AND OBP, .283/.411 with 4 SB……could run, bunt, and a switch hitter…..just exactly more of what they need in that lineup. On-base consistency and move them over, get them in ability.
They held on to Dylan Moore waaaaaaaay too long. Strike out machine his whole career with a career .206 batting average.
Nice to see you weighing in, Rick!
I may be mistaken, but I think Rivas was leading all AAA shortstops when adjusted for PAs.
They held on to Moore because they had no realistic SS depth beyond Rivas. I would guess we’ll see Mastrobuoni getting reps at SS in Tacoma for the time being.
A Brit in MLB. I’m looking forward to following his progress
Cal should DH a little more down the stretch here. Excited to see what Ford can do.
Raleigh DH has been lesser than Raleigh C
I don’t really care, I want him to be as fresh as possible for the playoffs. And he’s still slugging .492 as a DH.
He sluggs .605 as a catcher. Raleigh is 40% better hitter when he plays the field.
Again, I don’t care because it’s not like he becomes a pumpkin at DH. You’re also looking at only one split and not others that tell a more concise story, like how those numbers have significantly decreased in the 2nd half.
He’s still valuable offensively as a DH, and he needs to be as fresh as possible come October so he can hit like he did in the 1st half. He has been extremely streaky in the 2nd half and is slashing .197/.295/.454. He’s also performing worse defensively in the 2nd half than the 1st. Clearly, he needs less wear and tear so he can get back to his 1st half self.
Cal needs a real live day off. I’d like to see him rested and ready for a potential postseason in which he’s in every inning of every game. Ford affords that.
Once the staff decided that Donny Barrels could only play 1B and wasn’t a multi-position IF, his only job was to hit and, for the most part, he failed (except one hot streak that makes his season stats look better than he was). He should have been gone months ago. Harrison Ford is exciting and Rivas has the skill set to backup 3B (in an emergency). The weird part is Jackson, who’s been awful all year, including Tacoma.
My wish list for the M’s is that over the off-season, they teach Montes how to play 1B. He’s a slugger without a position.
Hope he becomes first round catcher who isn’t a bust.
See Henry Davis (first overall – Nick pick Pirates) and his partner Bart. Has any team had two bigger busts catching as a duo ?
Nice pick
Bart was a Giants draft pick and he started to play decently once he went to Pittsburgh.
Donovan Solano always hits for a high batting average. BABIP is such a useless stat. Thats like saying Luis Arraez is lucky because his BABIP is high. The top hitters in the game can find holes in the infield. This isn’t pure luck, its a skill