Seattle Mariners Made The Right Decision On Garver

In the lead as much as spring coaching, it was trying like the Seattle Mariners would have a brand new backup catcher in 2026. But that modified with an help from Cal Raleigh.

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Raleigh got in touch with Mitch Garverthe Mariners’ 2025 backup who was nonetheless awaiting an opportunity to affix a workforce, and informed him he ought to get in touch with the M’s. Garver reached out to common supervisor Justin Hollander and inside 24 hours returned to the membership on a minor league deal.

On Sunday, Mariners insider Shannon Drayer reported the workforce is breaking camp with Garver as his backup catcher.

MLB Network’s Jon Morosi thinks the Mariners made the right decision by rolling with Garver as their backup to Raleigh. He defined why when he joined Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Monday.

“He’s a pro. He’s been a World Series champion before, and he does have that respect from the people around him,” Morosi mentioned.

The 35-year-old Garver spent the previous two seasons with Seattle after signing a two-year, $24 million deal that was the largest contract given out to a free-agent place participant below president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto. He was introduced in to be the workforce’s full-time designated hitter, however had a disappointing begin to his Mariners profession whereas hitting .172 with a .627 OPS in 114 video games in 2024. In 2025, Garver’s function absolutely shifted to being a backup catcher and platoon bat towards left-handers.

“It was probably not the right amount of pressure for him in that circumstance,” Morosi mentioned of Garver’s first season in Seattle. “But I think as you look back (at 2025) and during the course of the postseason in that (new) role, he actually had some pretty productive at-bats.”

Morosi sees the state of affairs Garver is in now as a greater than one than when he signed with the workforce earlier than the 2024 season.

“Part of the reason why it’ll be different is I think he himself is in a different headspace, and it seems like the fans are also more welcoming,” Morosi mentioned. “They also realize that, first of all, he helped them last October. And second of all, he earned this spot. He clearly earned his spot with the way that he played.”

Garver components in to what Morosi referred to as one in every of the main questions for supervisor Dan Wilson and his workers, which is how a lot of a workload Raleigh will get behind the plate over the course of the season.

Raleigh made 119 begins at catcher and caught 1,072 innings throughout the common season in 2025. He additionally began all 12 video games at catcher and caught each inning throughout Seattle’s postseason run, which included a 15-inning marathon in Game 5 of the American League Division Series. In addition to the innings behind the plate in 2025, Raleigh needed to be prepared early to play on this yr’s World Baseball Classic.

“I think managing Cal’s workload and maybe getting some more spots for Garver will be one of the best choices that Dan Wilson is faced with during the course of the season,” Morosi mentioned.

Hear the full dialog at this link or in the audio participant on this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 pm or discover the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.