When the Seattle Mariners finally signed a first baseman this offseason, the player they settled on — Donovan Solano — was met with tolerable reactions from M's fans. Solano wasn't a flashy signing, but he was an above-average hitter in both 2023 and 2024, and seemed well-equipped to be passable at first for the Mariners in 2025.
He hasn't been passable, or even playable, to this point. Solano is hitting .148 with a WRC+ of -2. That is not a typo. The league-average WRC+ is 100, and Solano is in the negatives. I had no idea that stat could go below zero.
No one in Seattle expected Solano to be Pete Alonso, but I think fans fairly hoped he would at least be a good enough every day option on the corner of the infield. He hasn't been that. The Mariners offense has been (somewhat shockingly) raking this year, so Solano's struggles haven't been at the forefront of the minds of Mariners fans. But if this team wants to be a playoff threat like they appear to be, it needs better play at first.
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Solano is on the verge of completely losing a spot on Settle's roster
The other option Seattle took a flyer on at first was Rowdy Tellez, and Tellez has been a pleasant surprise for Seattle through 36 games. He hasn't been stellar, but he's hit some timely home runs (he has five on the season) and has an OPS of .703, which is at least passable... for now.
At the moment, there's no competition; Tellez is the clear every day first baseman, and he's blowing Solano away just by being a pretty average MLB player.
A huge change is needed for Solano — who's already mostly out of the lineup — if he wants to see the field at all the rest of the season. I don't think he gets DFA'd because Seattle has essentially no depth at the position, but Solano hasn't been a helpful member of the team to this point. It's still early enough to say "small sample size," but Solano needs to get in gear quicky.