J.P. Crawford has been a key part of the Mariners’ lineup since joining the club in 2019. In over 3,800 plate appearances with Seattle, Crawford has batted .248/.341/.369 with a 107 wRC+ while providing serviceable defense at shortstop, including 9 Defensive Runs Saved as recently as 2024. That said, the recently extended Colt Emerson is Seattle’s shortstop of the future, and Crawford, in his final season of club control, has volunteered to play third base to accommodate Emerson.
Crawford’s willingness to play the hot corner will add to his value in free agency, and it may also help his chances of returning to the Mariners. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that Crawford’s agent met with general manager Justin Hollander following Crawford’s asking to try third base, reiterating the latter’s desire to stay in Seattle. Hollander indicated a Crawford reunion is “absolutely” possible. “Obviously we’ll talk about it after the season and see how it goes. But he wants to be here and there’s definitely a place for him,” Hollander said of Crawford.
Those comments are not surprising for a general manager speaking of a long-tenured and well-liked player. That said, Crawford’s willingness to move positions and positive clubhouse reputation make the third base experiment worth exploring before he reaches free agency. Crawford’s work at short has been poor since the start of 2025, adding up to -9 DRS and -19 Outs Above Average. He has 174 2/3 innings of big league experience at third, all coming with the Phillies from 2017-18. To his credit, Crawford was worth 7 DRS and 3 OAA in that sample.
Of course, that’s a small sample from eight years ago. In contrast, a look at Crawford’s Statcast page gives reason for pessimism. His range is in the first percentile, while his arm strength 77.5 MPH arm strength in 2026 falls in just the 17th percentile. In terms of lateral moves, Crawford has been worth -10 OAA since the start of 2025 when moving toward third base. When moving toward first base, that improves slightly to -4 OAA. Playing third base would result in more lateral moves toward first, which could theoretically help to optimize Crawford’s defense as he plays deeper into his 30s.
Time will tell how Crawford fares defensively at the hot corner. In any case, a reunion might help the team’s offense and overall defensive flexibility. Crawford has put up a 114 wRC+ in 180 plate appearances this year. Despite a .204 batting average, he remains a productive hitter thanks to his ability to draw walks, doing so at least 11.3% of the time in every season since 2022. The M’s also have Brendan Donovan under club control through 2027. Donovan has exclusively played third this year but also has experience at second and in left. Retaining Crawford to play third would allow Donovan to be used as a super-utility player while ensuring plenty of at-bats for those two and Emerson.
Turning to the pitching staff, the Mariners’ rotation is in a bit of a crunch with Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo, Bryce Miller, and Emerson Hancock all performing well. Although Miller had a 5.68 ERA last year and missed the first month and a half of 2026 with an oblique strain, he posted a 3.52 ERA with a strong 17.6% strikeout to walk differential from 2023-24. Going forward, Ryan Divish and Adam Jude of the Seattle Times opine that the Mariners’ best path forward is Miller in the rotation and Luis Castillo in the bullpen full-time.
Castillo made his first career appearance as a reliever on Tuesday, allowing two earned runs in 2 1/3 innings against the White Sox while striking out four. He’s been a reliable starter since joining Seattle midway through the 2022 season, but unfortunately that hasn’t been the case in 2026. Castillo has a 6.34 ERA in 44 innings as a starter, and that’s not the result of one or two blow-ups. He’s allowed four earned runs or more on four separate occasions, and he’s only once completed six innings. Castillo has had some bad luck, as evidenced by a .346 opponents’ average on balls in play, but he’s also getting groundballs at a career-low 35.2% rate.
Castillo’s four-seamer had a run value of +11 last year, according to Statcast. While it hasn’t been as effective in 2026, the pitch is still getting 1.8 inches of horizontal break above league average. As a reliever, Castillo could take advantage of that movement by throwing the four-seamer more often, without having to face hitters multiple times. Then, if one of the starters goes down with an injury, Castillo could slot back into the rotation and revert to his old pitch mix.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
Look out, cuz the Mariners are landing out of the playoffs this year.
After tomorrow their might not be a team with .500 record in the division. I think the Mariners are in a fine spot.
They will make a run and be fine. There might be a little friction in the team with Castillo and his struggles. Eat his salary and trade him for a bucket of balls. Should have traded him in the offseason. That is purely a guess but he isn’t the smiling fun to be around guy like normal.
I’m done with the Rob Refsnyder experience.
Might not be bad to try JP at 3rd but still not sure Colt will be the SS. Celestin is hitting well in A ball. .455 avg with a 20 game hit streak as of a couple days ago. JP could play 3rd foot a couple years until Celestin is ready. Then we will see who is SS and who is 3rd. If Colt plays exception SS might be tough to move him then I imagine Celestin goes to 3rd. There is also talk as he grows he might get too big for SS.
I like JP and would love to see him finish in Seattle. He will have to take a smaller contract than he might get elsewhere but if is the team player he is being now then he should be willing to do that. He can play 3rd or DH for a few years. Not sure how much longer he wants to play. DHing might look odd because of his BA but they are running Ref out there with a .145 BA and he was in the 4 hole. That is embarrassing.
I also would not be surprised to see Colt go back down in a little bit. Seems to be overwhelmed with MLB pitching right now. No downside to going back down and getting your head in the right space then coming back up. A lot of young players do it. No need to keep him here and get more frustrated. Send him down help him adjust then come on back. He will also take a huge step forward next year. Like Young did this year. Started off hot failed to make the adjustments to the pitching adjustments made to him. He now looks like he might be turning the corner. We saw what he did and can do in the future.
Infield looks good for years to come with those 3 mentioned and cal of course . Need to find a college 1st bm to take over for Naylor when he is done. Have a few years though. Then Montes and Farmelo can fill the outfield spots. No guarantees but they look hopeful.
I watch every single Mariners game and to my unexpert eyes Crawford always makes the routine plays and will make the occasional great play. Yes; he will flub a few, but nobody is perfect. I mean; he does not seem AT ALL like a liability defensively to my eye. But perhaps I am just looking at the wrong thing or blink too much and miss whatever the important thing is that he is not doing right.
Lots of teams need starting pitching. Trade Luis, he would be most happy in somebody’s rotation. And he still has life to his pitches, there are far worse choices out there. I thought this whole “piggyback” off Bryce Miller experiment was completely idiotic. That was such an awkward game against the White Sox when they tried to implement that.