DETROIT — Before the 2022 season, Adam Frazier starting a game at shortstop as the Mariners were battling to make the postseason for the first time in 21 years probably wasn’t something that manager Scott Servais or president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto anticipated.
Then again, they probably didn’t expect to have a game where they started three infielders — Frazier, Dylan Moore and Sam Haggerty — in the three outfield spots.
These sorts of things happen over the course of the 162-game season. It’s not if, but when a team will have to maneuver through injuries, absences or struggles to get through a game or handful of games.
On Tuesday night at Comerica Park, Frazier made his second career start at shortstop. His only other MLB start at shortstop came as a member of the Pirates on April 15, 2017, vs. the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
“Things happen,” Servais said. “Obviously, you think you’re in good shape at the shortstop position and a couple injuries happen. Then you look up, and we’re scrambling a little bit. But Frazier’s played short before. He hasn’t done it a lot for us, obviously, but just try to make the routine plays and keep the game moving down the road.”
It was his second appearance at shortstop this season for Seattle. He played the ninth inning of a game in Texas on July 14. Frazier was a shortstop coming up through the Pirates system, starting 218 games, and in college at Mississippi State.
How exactly did Frazier end up starting at shortstop for Seattle?
Well, it started with J.P. Crawford feeling some discomfort in his left pectoral muscle on Saturday and was out of the lineup on Sunday.
“I just woke up a couple of days ago and I was super sore,” Crawford said. “I tried to play through it. On a swing in my first AB, it flared up. The next day it was still super sore and thought I should get it checked out. It was a little bit concerning, but it feels a lot better today. I’ve been getting treatment on it every day since then.”
The hope is that he could return to the lineup by Wednesday or Thursday. He took pregame ground balls on the field with his teammates and planned to hit in the cage.
“I think I’ll be coming back a lot quicker than expected,” he said. “We did some needling today and two days ago and stuff cleared up pretty good. We’ll see, it’s day to day. It’s just a weird freak injury that I don’t even know how I did it.”
Crawford’s replacement, Dylan Moore, played a huge role in the Mariners’ 4-0 win over Cleveland on Sunday, crushing a three-run homer in the fifth inning. However, in his last at-bat of the game, Moore felt some discomfort in his lower right side on a swing and a miss.
“That first swing, I felt something grab,” he said. “It didn’t feel any better yesterday. It’s not ideal.”
Initially, Moore felt like a day off on Monday would allow him to play Tuesday. But when he continued to feel discomfort while trying do any sort of twisting or baseball activity, he knew it was more serious. An MRI revealed a right oblique strain that was slightly worse than a Grade 1 level.
“Like standing here talking you guys, it feels fine,” he said. “That’s why I just wanted to see how it felt today. But once put any weight against or do anything else, it starts to hurt. I’m very upset about this. I take pride in being available and being the guy that can get other guys days off.”
The Mariners placed him on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain and recalled utility infielder Abraham Toro from Class AAA Tacoma.
Toro has been with the Rainiers since being optioned on Aug. 6. In 16 games, he’s posted a .241/.353/.431 slash line with three doubles, a triple, two homers and 12 RBI. He’d struggled at the MLB level for much of the season, but did provide some timely hits late in games. In 84 MLB games, he posted a .180/.239/.322 slash line with 11 doubles, a triple, eight homers and 26 RBI.
Toro went down there with a plan of working on his swing and approach and trying to stay more up the middle. He felt like he was flawed directionally in his swing and trying to pull too many pitches.
With the results of the games not as important, he was able to slow things down mentally to make those changes.
“I think mainly it was just getting my mind right,” he said. “I was feeling just a little rushed in my mechanics. It was just being more relaxed on the mental side and I was able to get to work on the mechanical side.”
If Crawford’s pectoral muscle continues to be a lingering issue and it isn’t getting better, the Mariners could place him on the IL retroactive to three days prior and select the minor-league contracts of Erick Mejia or Mason McCoy to fill a spot.
Crawford’s health could also affect how the Mariners will handle the roster expansion on Thursday. They can add one pitcher and one position player. Left-handed pitcher Matthew Boyd is in Detroit and is expected to be the pitcher added. The Mariners could try to piece together the lineup for Wednesday and then added Mejia and McCoy to avoid putting Crawford on the IL.
With Tacoma playing through September, the Mariners can make changes with that extra spot based on need. The expectation was that they’d recall left fielder Taylor Trammell on Thursday, which is still a possibility.