The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of infielder Will Wilson. He will take the active roster spot of infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left groin muscle strain, retroactive to April 18th. To open a 40-man spot, infielder/outfielder Miles Mastrobuoni has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Donovan was removed from Friday’s game due to a left hip issue. He didn’t play on Saturday or Sunday. He had previously dealt with a right groin issue earlier in the season. Per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, Donovan believed it was possible that his earlier groin discomfort may have been related to the sports hernia surgery he underwent back in October.
That surgery didn’t prevent Donovan from being one of the hottest trade chips of the winter. Several clubs were interested and Seattle eventually landed him in a three-team trade that saw them send out infielder Ben Williamson, prospects Jurrangelo Cijntje and Tai Peete, as well as a competitive balance round B pick.
Donovan was a particularly good fit for the Mariners roster because of his defensive versatility. Coming into this year, it wasn’t clear what would happen at second or third base, with Cole Young and Colt Emerson possible solutions at those positions. Young has taken over at second and has been playing well so far. Emerson, despite signing a long contract extension, has been in the minors. That has left Donovan to cover third and he has a strong .304/.437/.518 line when he has been able to take the field.
It’s not clear how long the Mariners expect Donovan to be out but they’ll have to proceed without him for more than a week, at least. They could have called up Emerson but have decided not to, at least for now. He is playing well for Tacoma but is still only 20 years old and only has 24 games at Triple-A under his belt, so it seems they have decided to keep him there.
Leo Rivas has picked up the past two starts at third base with Donovan out. He has a rough .143/.295/.184 line on the year but a better .217/.348/.278 slash for his career. A switch-hitter, he has been far better against righties, with a .221/.372/.305 line in that split compared to a .210/.304/.235 line versus lefties.
Wilson, 27, is a right-handed bat but hasn’t had strong splits throughout his career. In much of his minor league career, he’s actually been better against righties, so he’s not an ideal platoon bat for Rivas. He might just be more of a general depth infielder off the bench. He has plenty of minor league experience at the three infield positions to the left of first base, and some limited outfield experience as well.
His major league track record is still fairly small. He got into 31 games with the Guardians last year and slashed .192/.267/.244. His upper level minor league work hasn’t been much better, though his Triple-A line of .250/.333/.430 since the start of 2025 isn’t bad. He has options and could be sent back down to Tacoma once Donovan and/or Patrick Wisdom come off the IL.
As for Mastrobuoni, he started the season on the 10-day IL with a right calf strain. He began a minor league rehab assignment on April 8th and played as recently as the 18th. His current status is unclear but he must have suffered some sort of setback, since he’s now ineligible for reinstatement until late May.
Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images
Since the obvious choice would have been Emerson, I assume they don’t think his defense at 3rd is good enough. The bat will play for a couple of weeks.
When he comes up, he will come up to stay. Not get shuffled back and forth.
Love the 100% confidence a non front office person has on a 50/50 proposition. Keep on spoutin em though!
Maybe they think Emerson needs some AAA AB’s before the call up. I do. Wouldn’t hurt for him to log some more AAA innings at 3B too.
I think he would benefit by seeing how ML pitchers handle him for just a couple of weeks while they wait on Donovan. A lot of great players came up for a short time, struggled and went back down. Trout is the most commonly cited example. Since he already signed that ML deal, there is no downside otherwise to bringing him up and sending him back down.
Not a fun injury for Donovan. Those can linger.
Fun note on Wilson, the Angels drafted him in the first round with the D’backs taking the much higher rated Corbin Carroll the following pick. The Mariners followed with George Kirby a couple of picks later.
I dunno why the heck you wouldn’t call up Emerson, this is sort of situation they were supposedly waiting for… Wouldn’t have thought that Joe, Wisdom, and now Wilson would all be called up in the first month.