Rob Brantly Is Forcing His Way Into The Seattle Mariners’ Plans

When Spring Training began, the Seattle Mariners seemed pretty set at the catcher position for the start of the 2016 season. Chris Iannetta has been slotted as the starting catcher since he signed with the Mariners this past November. Last year’s catcher (Mike Zunino) was a lock from the start of the offseason to begin 2016 in Triple-A to get some work at the plate.

During the massive overhaul of the roster, the Mariners traded Mark Trumbo to the Baltimore Orioles to acquire catcher Steve Clevenger. With Iannetta never surpassing 115 starts in a season, the backup catcher would realistically start around 50-60 games. Giving up Trumbo for Clevenger seemed, at the time, to guarantee that Clevenger would be that backup catcher. That is not the case anymore.

An under-the-radar move was made by GM Jerry Dipoto on March 11 in the middle of Spring Training, which was claiming Rob Brantly off of waivers from the Chicago White Sox. Brantly was initially just thought of as another bat who would be waived at the end of Spring Training, hoping to pass him through unnoticed. With the way Brantly has performed in spring, he has made the Mariners take a second look at who should be the backup catcher for the big league club.

It was always known that Brantly had a good bat, but the question was always the defense. Having new manager Scott Servais, who was a major league catcher himself, has been nothing but a positive for Brantly. Servais has said himself that after a tweak in mechanics, Brantly has impressed with his defense. Those new defensive skills and his above average bat have created a competition that was never expected.

Clevenger has not underperformed in camp enough to lose the job, but he has not really impressed either. Clevenger is 5-for-19 with a double so far in camp, which is average at best. Like Brantly, he is out of options, so a catcher is going to have to pass through waivers either way.

With just over a week left in Spring Training, neither Brantly nor Clevenger are seen as the front-runner. If I had to pick, at this point, I think Brantly has the most potential to succeed with the Mariners this season. The Mariners have lacked a legitimate hitter as a catcher and although it would only be for 50-60 games, Brantly could be incredibly useful this season. Whoever gets the job, if they begin to struggle, Mariners catcher of the past and future Zunino will be waiting in Triple-A.