“As of today, Harry would definitely be the backup,” Hollander said, as relayed by Divish. “I think Harry is in a great place. He has checked all the boxes along the way that you would expect from a high school player coming through the draft. He has delivered at every level.”
It’s not hard to see why Hollander is bullish on Ford, who has been a consensus top-100 prospect for years and got a taste of the majors late in the season with eight games left this year. Ford hit .283/.408/.460 in 97 games at the Triple-A level this year, an impressive slash line that was good for a 125 wRC+ even in the bloated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League. He hit just 19.2% of the time while having a huge 16.2% walk rate, and while he didn’t run as often as he did in the lower minors (just seven steals per year), he did hit 16 career home runs. Overall, it was a strong performance for the 22-year-old and clearly sets him up for greater prominence in Major League pitching in 2026.
However, whether that will happen in Seattle or elsewhere has not yet been completely decided. Divish notes that while the Mariners appear comfortable with Ford joining the roster as a backup for Raleigh, they remain open to trade offers involving Ford. That’s a sensible stance, as Raleigh has cemented himself as baseball’s best catcher after putting together arguably the best season at the position in MLB history this past year. With the Mariners certainly planning to continue playing Raleigh (who has started at least 114 games behind the dish in each of the last three seasons) as much as possible, the backup catcher role isn’t as important for Seattle as it is for other teams.
While there are no obvious alternatives to Ford within the organization at this point, Divish points out that there will be a number of viable backup options available on minor league or cheap big league deals. Many of these options could certainly provide similar production to Garver locally. Given the scarcity of quality catching options in the league, if another team sees Ford as a plug-and-play starter behind the dish, they might value him enough to make the return for his services worth the downgrade from Seattle’s perspective. A weak free agency market, as highlighted by JT Realmuto and Victor Caratini, should only further bolster Ford’s value if the Mariners decide to acquire him this offseason.
Hollander turned away from Ford and also expressed confidence in the group of players they already have in the organization when it comes to filling the outfield next season. Randy Arozarena is locked in as the club’s everyday left fielder (barring a move where he is traded at least), while Julio Rodriguez has cemented himself as the franchise’s cornerstone in center. Right field was handled by a mix of different players in 2025, and in 2026 Hollander points to three names that could factor into the mix: Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone and Victor Robles.
Even if none of them were impact players in 2025, it’s not hard to see why the Mariners would want to give that trio a shot at the position instead of pursuing an outside addition. Raley is just one year removed from back-to-back seasons of slashing .246/.326/.476 while totaling 41 home runs and 42 doubles in 255 games. While Raley has never been successful against left-handed pitching, it’s not at all difficult to imagine that he could rebound enough to be worth seeing regular playing time when a right-handed starter is on the mound for the opposing team. Robles, meanwhile, missed all but 32 games last year due to injury and was someone the Mariners believed in so much that they gave him a chance. extension just two months into his tenure with the organization.
Canzone has the weakest overall track record of the three, but delivered by far the best results this year. In 82 games as a part-time player for the Mariners, Canzone hit a .300/.358/.481 slash line with 11 homers and 11 doubles, while striking out at a reasonable 21.9% clip. A tough postseason in which he went just 3-for-28 with a walk and 10 strikeouts left him leaving 2025 on a sour note, but the 28-year-old clearly had a 2025 worth building on next season. Perhaps adding a second right-handed hitter to the mix alongside Robles could allow the Mariners to maximize matchups and create depth in the event of injury, but an everyday starter in the outfield seems unnecessary given the much larger holes in the infield.
Another place where it seems like the Mariners could go internally is with starting pitching depth. Divish reports that right-hander Emerson Hancock is expected to suit up this winter and enter Spring Training as the starting pitcher. Hancock has served as a swingman with below-average results (4.81 ERA, 5.23 FIP) and 162 2/3 innings of work in the Majors during his three seasons, but has looked quite good in the short term for Seattle this year. That left some wondering if he would remain in the bullpen full-time going forward, but it appears the Mariners value Hancock’s versatility given their lack of starting height at the major league level. Besides their five starting pitchers, only Logan Evans, aside from Hancock, has spent significant time starting at the big league level.
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