Lookout Landing’s Top-50 Seattle Mariners

The enterprise of selecting the top 50 Seattle Mariners in the franchise’s history is a fun and challenging one. As such, we let our staff take a few cracks at it. Some folks leapt at it, while others are more eager to pick through the official list in the next few days when it’s revealed Saturday night. Below, we’ve got a few lists, each with variable criteria, along with some explanations and tiers from a few members of the staff, and we’ll be glad to hear your thoughts as well.

Grant:

So here’s

the thing: if you’re reading this, you know that the Seattle Mariners just haven’t been that good over 50 seasons. We’ve had three different high points (1995, 2001, 2025), a few other playoff seasons, and lots of mediocrity sprinkled in.

Perhaps, then, it doesn’t surprise you that putting together a top 50 list leans on the nostalgia. There are some genuinely great players on this list; there are also some who played 3 seasons with the team or who have <= 8 WAR. We have five different batting title winners, and we have kinda mid second basemen/utility men.

My list isn’t in order outside of my top 10, and if you try this on your own, you will also find out how challenging it is once you hit #30 or so. But as you go down this list, no matter what, you’ll stumble across some players who make you smile, who lifted your spirits on summer weeknights driving home after a long shift, who drove you just a little crazy, who made you stand and applaud, who made you cry. You might find your kid’s first ever favorite player or the one who you’d bond over with your parents.

Yes, this team has been bad for much of its existence, and yes, baseball is nearly unbearable right now if you’re a Mariners fan. But as Dave Niehaus said, it fills our days and brightens our nights, and these 50 folks epitomize this team.

Welcome back, baseball. Stay forever.

Top 10

1. Ken Griffey Jr.
2. Ichiro
3. Felix Hernandez
4. Edgar Martinez
5. Randy Johnson
6. Dave Niehaus
7. Alex Rodriguez
8. Rick Rizzs
9. Julio Rodriguez
10. Lou Piniella

Honorable Mention

11. Kyle Seager

Amazing, but not known as elite for the Mariners

12. Robinson Cano
13. Edwin Diaz
14. Adrian Beltre

Close but no cigar…yet

15. Cal Raleigh
16. Logan Gilbert
17. George Kirby
18. Bryan Woo
19. Andres Muñoz
20. Jerry Dipoto

Simply, Truly Good Players

21. Mitch Haniger
22. Nelson Cruz
23. Hisashi Iwakuma
24. James Paxton
25. Marco Gonzales
26. J.P. Crawford

Early Days

27. Mark Langston
28. Alvin Davis
29. Mike Moore
30. Phil Bradley
31. Harold Reynolds
32. Floyd Bannister
33. Bruce Bochte
34. Dave Valle

2001 Immortality

35. Jamie Moyer
36. Bret Boone
37. Freddy Garcia
38. Kazuhiro Sasaki
39. Mike Cameron
40. John Olerud

1995 Immortality

41. Jay Buhner
42. Dan Wilson
43. Jeff Nelson

Nostalgia in Some Way or Another

44. Jose Lopez
45. Franklin Gutierrez
46. Mike Zunino
47. Mark McLemore
48. J.J. Putz
49. Luis Castillo
50. Diego Segui

John:

I love a list. It’s one of the delightful parts of prospect writing, gathering all the names together to consider what sets one player apart from another and whether they deserve clear demarcation. For my list, I’ve only selected players, and while I considered exclusively ruling on players I’ve seen myself, I ultimately opted to follow my heart and those I’ve read about enough to feel a connection to. I’ve broken them out in tiers that made sense to me in the moment, but they are hardly steadfast in terms of their true ordering.

The Hall of Famers

1. Ichiro Suzuki
2. Edgar Martinez
3. Félix Hernández
4. Ken Griffey Jr.
5. Randy Johnson

Seattle Royalty

6. Kyle Seager
7. Jamie Moyer
8. Jay Buhner
9. Julio Rodríguez
10. Alvin Davis

Meteoric

11. Alex Rodríguez
12. Cal Raleigh
13. Mike Cameron

Held it Down When Things Were Grim

14. Harold Reynolds
15. J.P. Crawford

Me and Félix’s Favorite Pitcher

16. Freddy Garcia

Era-Defining Stars With Warts

17. Bret Boone
18. Robinson Canó

Game 161

19. Nelson Cruz

Game 163 (sorry Mark, you were great here too but it was too easy)

20. Mark Langston

Boron Rods in the Reactor

21. Dan Wilson
22. Logan Gilbert
23. Raúl Ibañez

Free Agents That Worked Out

24. John Olerud
25. Adrian Beltré
26. Hisashi Iwakuma

Mike Zunino

27. Mike Zunino

Pitchers I Never Saw But Made the Early Mariners Less Awful

28. Mike Moore
29. Erik Hanson

The Guys Who Were Luckier Than Kyle Lewis

30. Mitch Haniger
31. Franklin Gutierrez

Relievers Who Fuck

32. Arthur Rhodes
33. Kazuhiro Sasaki
34. Andrés Muñoz
35. J.J. Putz
36. Edwin Díaz
37. Mike Jackson

Era-Defining Starting Pitchers

38. Luis Castillo
39. James Paxton
40. Marco Gonzales

Hitters I Never Saw But Made the Early Mariners Less Awful

41. Phil Bradley
42. Tom Paciorek
43. Ken Phelps
44. Bruce Bochte

Good Vibes Iron Men

45. Eugenio Suárez
46. Dave Valle

I Am Tired Of Everyone Trying To Trade You

47. George Kirby

The First Mariner (Julio Cruz should get to be here too)

48. Ruppert Jones

Relievers I Joked About Putting On But No, They Actually Deserve It

49. Jeff Nelson
50. Tom Wilhelmsen

Kate:

This is a vibes-based list, hand-written and transported with haste to the world wide web for you all to enjoy. It leans on going through year after year and seeing the top performers in each individual season, which was an interesting exercise in seeing what had to sustain many, many years of this club.

1. Griffey
2. Ichiro
3. Edgar
4. Felix
5. Randy Johnson
6. Alvin Davis
7. A-Rod
8. Jay Buhner
9. Ruppert Jones
10. Dan Wilson
11. Nelson Cruz
12. Kyle Seager
13. Dave Henderson
14. Ken Phelps
15. Freddy Garcia
16. Hisashi Iwakuma
17. Mark Langston
18. Harold Reynolds
19. James Paxton
20. Julio
21. Cal
22. Bret Boone 
23. Jamie Moyer
24. Kaz Sasaki
25. Brandon League
26. Norm Charlton
27. Logan Gilbert
28. Mike Moore
29. Phil Bradley
30. J.P. Crawford
31. Julio Cruz
32. Robinson Canó
33. Mike Cameron
34. Franklin Gutierrez
35. Spike Owen
36. Bruce Bochte
37. Tom Wilhelmsen
38. Adrian Beltre
39. Tom Paciorek
40. Joel Pinero
41. Joey Cora
42. Scott Bankhead
43. Erik Hanson
44. Kenji Johjima
45. Mark McLemore
46. Bill Swift
47. Dave Valle
48. Henry Cotto
49. Raúl Ibañez
50. Eugenio Suárez