After sitting out the last week for the Seattle Mariners, OF/1B Luke Raley will be placed on the 10-day injured list with back stiffness prior to today’s game, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. To take his spot, 1B Tyler Locklear has been recalled from Triple-A Tacoma.
Raley’s lack of play time initially seemed like a consequence of circumstance. With Seattle trading for 1B Josh Naylor, a potent left-handed bat limited positionally, and OF Dominic Canzone performing at a career-best level with near-daily
reps, Raley’s injury-slowed season seemed to be facing a different sort of speed bump. Instead, it appears soreness that’s lingered will put Raley back on the IL, after missing much of the season’s first couple months due to an oblique injury. It’s unclear if this injury, which will be backdated, has a severity beyond the next week or two.
Raley’s been serviceable in his opportunities, with a .220/.343/.348 line, good for a 107 wRC+ while covering a near-even split of outfield and first base reps. However, by happenstance, rust, or lingering injury impacts, Raley’s power numbers have been severely muted in 2025. A .343 xwOBA, exit velocities, Barrel percentages, and hard hit rates in line with his career norms suggest ill-fortune as the primary culprit.
The loss of Raley is softened by the preponderance of well-performing LHH bats as listed above, but does thin Seattle’s depth in a couple key ways. Raley provides the most potent bench bat the M’s have to offer, placing that responsibility now on the inconsistent and aging Donovan Solano, as well as the rookie Locklear. Secondly, while Raley’s athleticism is not always graceful, he was one of the just three players who can play center field on Seattle’s roster. Given Dylan Moore’s craterous performance as he seems to struggle through physical discomfort, Julio Rodriguez can expect to see himself in the lineup every day for the foreseeable future.
Locklear, for his part, has earned this call-up. Despite struggling with contact a season ago, the muscle-bound first baseman has cut down his strikeout rate a couple points from his 2024 line with the Rainiers. That’s meant more contact, and specifically less popped up contact, and thus better everything else. He’s slashed .316/.401/.542 in the friendly confines of the Pacific Coast League in 434 plate appearances. For much of the season, it had seemed Solano’s presence would be the impediment to playing time for Locklear, and indeed that may remain, but with just a day and a half until the trade deadline, this is where we’ll see if the M’s believe in their internal options like Locklear more than what’s available elsewhere.
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