Seattle Mariners could use Harry Ford to add energy

The Seattle Mariners have been dragging on their current road trip, as they enter Friday’s series opener in Atlanta having lost five of their last six games.

Three keys to a turnaround for the struggling Seattle Mariners

Throughout those struggles, manager Dan Wilson’s lineup has generally looked the same. That’s even after Seattle added a couple offensive players on Monday when active MLB rosters expanded for the September stretch run. That means top Mariners catching prospect Harry Ford, the team’s 2021 first-round draft pick, is still waiting to make his major league debut.

MLB Network’s Jon Morosi wonders if it’s time for the Mariners to address both of those things.

“There’s been a high toll for a lot of these guys,” Morosi said of the Mariners’ regular players during his weekly conversation Thursday with Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob. “… It feels as though there’s been a lot of tread taken off these tires for these players during the course of the year where they play a lot. And this is where maybe at the very end of the year, the long travel from Seattle starts to add up a little bit.”

The Mariners may be reticent to try out new things when their hold on a playoff spot is dwindling, but at the same time, their recent struggles may call for a new look. Both Ford or fellow September call-up Leo Rivas, who has a .295/.427/.361 slash line for a .371 OPS in 32 games for the M’s this year, are both options for a changeup in the short term.

“I think if I’m Dan Wilson – again, easier for me to say – I wouldn’t be afraid to spot a kid into the lineup here, whether it’s a Harry Ford here,” Morosi said. “Just a little more energy. Sometimes it’s a different look, a little shakeup. You’re not benching someone, you’re just kind of refreshing the lineup a little bit and showing your team there’s different ways to score some runs.”

It would make sense to get Ford into a game sometime over the next three days considering he’s a native of the Atlanta area – although the Braves’ scheduled starters for the series are all tough. All-Star left-hander and reigning National League Cy Young winner Chris Sale starts Friday, followed by rookie standout Hurston Waldrep (1.01 ERA in six MLB games) on Saturday and one-time All-Star Spencer Strider on Sunday.

“If they went down the path of having (Ford) in the lineup against Sale – which I’m not there yet, but I’m just thinking about it for a second if they did that – it’s a righty against a lefty, and from that standpoint maybe you get a little bit of a different look and it would be in Harry’s hometown,” Morosi said. “He’s from Georgia, it’s his home ballpark if you will, so it’d be quite a story.

“It’d be kind of a fun way to begin your major league career if you hop in there against the future Hall of Famer in the city where you grew up going to games. That’s kind of cool, actually.”

Based on how things went for the Mariners when they were swept in three games earlier this week in Tampa Bay, Morosi believes some change to the lineup would be welcome.

“At this point, after watching those last three days, guys, I don’t think anybody could say, well, that’s a bad idea,” Morosi continued. “I would take anything that’s a little different look than what we had the last three days.”

Hear the full Wyman and Bob conversation with MLB Network insider Jon Morosi in the podcast at this link or player near the top of this post. Catch Wyman and Bob from 2-7 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

Seattle Mariners could use Harry Ford to add energy

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