With Mitch Garver headed into the open market, the Mariners have a hole to fill on their roster without a clear backup for Cal Raleigh behind the plate. As noted by Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, GM Justin Hollander indicated at the GM Meetings this past week that, as the roster is currently constructed, that backup catching job would go to longtime top prospect Harry Ford.
“As of today, Harry would definitely be the backup,” Hollander said, as relayed by Divish. “I think that Harry’s in a great spot. He has checked all the boxes along the way that you would want from a high school catcher coming through the draft. He’s performed at every level.”
It’s not hard to see why Hollander feels positively about Ford, who has been a consensus top-100 prospect for years and got a brief taste of the majors late in the season with eight games down the stretch this year. Ford hit .283/.408/.460 in 97 games at the Triple-A level this year, an impressive slash line that was good for a 125 wRC+ even in the Pacific Coast League’s inflated offensive environment. He struck out just 19.2% of the time while sporting a massive 16.2% walk rate, and while he didn’t run as often as he had in the lower minors (just seven steals on the year) he did slug a career-high 16 home runs. Overall, it was a strong showing for the 22-year-old and clearly sets him up to be ready for more exposure to major league pitching in 2026.
Whether that comes in Seattle or elsewhere has not entirely been decided yet, however. Divish notes that while the Mariners do seem comfortable having Ford join the roster as the backup to Raleigh, they remain open to trade offers that involve Ford. That’s a sensible position to take, given that Raleigh has cemented himself as baseball’s best catcher after posting perhaps the best season at the position in MLB history this past year. With the Mariners surely intent on continuing to play Raleigh (who has started at least 114 games behind the dish in each of the past three seasons) as much as possible, the role of backup catcher isn’t quite as important for Seattle as it is for other teams.
While there are no obvious alternatives in the organization to Ford at the moment, Divish points out that a number of viable backup options figure to be available on minor league or low-cost big league deals. Many of those options could surely offer similar production to Garver in the spot. Given the scarcity of quality catching options around the league, if another team views Ford as a plug-and-play starter behind the dish they might value him enough to make the return for his services worth the downgrade from Seattle’s perspective. A weak catching market in free agency that is highlighted by J.T. Realmuto and Victor Caratini should only further bolster Ford’s value if the Mariners were to decide to shop him this offseason.
Turning away from Ford, Hollander also expressed confidence in the group of players they already have in the organization when it comes to filling out the outfield next season. Randy Arozarena is locked in as the club’s everyday left fielder (barring a move that sees him traded, at least), while Julio Rodriguez has cemented himself as a franchise cornerstone in center. Right field was handled by a hodgepodge of different players throughout 2025, and in 2026 Hollander points to three names who could factor into the mix: Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone, and Victor Robles.
Even though none of them were impact players in 2025, it’s not hard to see why the Mariners would want to give that trio a run at the position rather than pursuing an external addition. Raley is just one year removed from back-to-back seasons where he slashed .246/.326/.476 while totaling 41 homers and 42 doubles across 255 games. While Raley has never been successful against left-handed pitching, it’s not at all difficult to imagine that he could rebound enough to be worth affording regular playing time to when a right-handed starter is on the mound for the opposing team. Robles, meanwhile, missed all but 32 games this past year due to injury and was someone the Mariners believed in enough that they afforded him an extension just two months into his tenure with the organization.
Canzone has the weakest overall track record of the three, but actually delivered by far the best results this year. In 82 games as a part-time player for the Mariners, Canzone raked to the tune of a .300/.358/.481 slash line with 11 homer and 11 doubles while he struck out at a reasonable 21.9% clip. A tough postseason where he went just 3-for-28 with a walk and ten strikeouts saw him leave 2025 on a sour note, but the 28-year-old clearly had a 2025 worth building on next season. Perhaps adding a second right-handed hitter to the mix alongside Robles could allow the Mariners to maximize matchups and create depth in the event of injury, but an everyday starter in the outfield does seem unnecessary given the far more significant holes around in the infield.
Another place where it seems the Mariners could look to go internal is with starting pitching depth. Divish reports that right-hander Emerson Hancock is expected to prepare this winter and enter Spring Training as a starting pitcher. Hancock has served as a swingman with below average results (4.81 ERA, 5.23 FIP) across his three seasons and 162 2/3 innings of work in the majors, but looked quite good in short relief down the stretch for Seattle this year. That made some wonder if he would stick in the bullpen full-time going forward, but it seems as though the Mariners value Hancock’s versatility given their lack of upper-level starting pitching depth. Beyond their starting five pitchers, only Logan Evans has spent significant time starting at the big league level aside from Hancock.
Do NOT trade Ford!
(Unless you can get Skenes for him.)
Skenes is infinitely times better than Ford
Also highly unlikely to be traded until 2027 when he starts earning arbitration salaries.
I’m not sure I would say that
Outsider’s point looking in, but it seems like a pretty big waste of talent to use Ford as only a back-up catcher. Sure, Raleigh can’t catch everyday, and he made 38 starts at DH, but unless Ford is the primary DH and gets starts behind the dish once a week, seems like he could be more valuabe if used in a trade.
He could be used for 1st base
I think they can work out a decent playing time split. Cal’s almost 30, and has caught a ton of games for the Mariners already, even playing through a nasty thumb injury in the back half of 2022. I think this year was his peak as a hitter and the year before was his peak on defense. He’s super tough and excellent on both sides of the ball but father time comes for everyone, and catchers are especially susceptible to early cliff dives due to the physical demands of the position. If Cal catches 90-100 games instead of his usual 120-140 games (DHing the rest) and Ford catches the other 60-70 games, it’s a fair split. Cal still is the primary catcher but hopefully doesn’t wear down as much, and Ford gets his chance to prove he’s a legit major league catcher without rotting on the bench.
This year was just a cup of coffee for Ford. Get a taste of the major league pace and preparation, get comfortable in the clubhouse. They’re not going to sit Cal when he was having a season like that. Next year, he won’t be on the MLB club unless he has a role.
As a Mariners fan, I wish we would trade him for a more useful player and give him the chance to play everyday somewhere else. I’m not sure who that trade partner would be, though. Ford may be a top 100 prospect, but he’s not a super exciting one IMO. The return may not be anything impactful.
Might be a waste but I would rather have it be a waste on a rookie contract than paying a FA too much money when that salary needs to go to locking up Naylor/Polanco.
From what I remember, Divish reported that scouts weren’t sure Ford is good enough to stick at catcher at the MLB level . I see on BBREF that he’s played some outfield. So the guy’s trade chip value may not be as high as you might think. Breaking him in as a backup is fine
Divish is a pretty good reporter, but I get the sense that he’s a major pessimist when it comes to the Mariners. Often at an obnoxious level. The team is depressing enough on their own usually without him dumping cold water on the few things that are good about them.
Also, that outfield “experiment,” if you can even call it that, ended as quickly as it began. Ford has been their primary catching prospect since he was drafted. He is really young too, having just been able to legally buy alcohol for about a year. There’s plenty of time to develop his skills. The bat plays, especially as a potential OBP machine with averageish power. As long as he isn’t Swiss cheese behind the plate he should be fine.
It’s good to have good players.
Ford is 22 and getting 300+ AB’s as a backup Catcher/First Baseman/DH isn’t necessarily bad to ease him into MLB
Trade Harry Ford for a impact bat. He not going to be starting in Seattle and Cal got that extension so really no place for him.
Emerson Hancock looks better in relief than as starter..
Trade Luke Raley or Dominic Canzone
What impact bat are you getting for an unproven commodity unless you are including him as part of a bigger package?
As an Astros fan, the Mariners aren’t my favorite team, in fact, they are one of my least favorite. But, we share something Seattle fans, we don’t like it when the Rangers win. The Mariners could shop lefty from the Astros and Philllies. Steven Okert, Bryan King, and Bennett Sousa.
That’s rich, 72sortsa. I’d much rather Texas be successful than the trash can, division crashers.
Interesting piece, but it overlooked the major Seattle weaknesses: They don’t have a second or third baseman, and won’t have a first baseman if they don’t sign Naylor. Surely Ford could get one or two of those needs in a trade. Surely.
A promising but unproven rookie catcher could bring back two starting-caliber infielders for a playoff team? Surely not.
If they spend on the corners they can afford to go with Cole Young at 2B. They should be in a decent position to retain both Naylor and Suarez if they are willing to fork over the cash
Those topics were discussed ad nauseam in previous articles, no sense in rehashing that again until/unless moves are made. People think Ford is trade bait, which is the reason for this article now. RF is also a question mark because even though Canzone had a nice breakout he sort of came out of nowhere, while Raley/Robles dealt with injuries and declining stats. The Mariners ought to be looking into finding a regular RF as well as infield help. Upgrade anywhere possible.
The Ford situation is similar to the Rushing situation with the Dodgers, the difference is the dodgers can probably make the playoffs with Will Smith only playing 60% of the time and the M’s have DH at bats available. Hasn’t been great for Rushing’s development. Might work out for Ford, but I think a trade would be the best option given they get solid value in return
Ford’s situation is actually better in that Raleigh could transition to DH/part-time Catcher over the next few seasons. Rushing is stuck behind Smith and Ohtani for the entirety of his team control years assuming the Dodgers don’t trade him or Smith first
Ford played some outfield last year. He wasn’t that great, but that’s to be expected when he hasn’t played there before. He’s a solid overall athlete. I’m not saying a full time move but I think they can find the dude at bats if his batting is decent in 26.
Also is pretty funny his full name is Harrison Ford.
Teams will be even more interested in Ford in a year after he proves he can hit MLB pitching. Having two catchers that can hit is a bonus. It is certainly better than paying $12M for an over the hill backup catcher to sit and watch.