In 2017, Victor Robles was half of a one-two punch that allowed the Washington Nationals to lay claim to the best farm system in the game, paired with another young titan in Juan Soto. Many outlets had Robles above Soto due to his elite athleticism, and the duo led the Nationals—along with Anthony Rendon, Trea Turner, and an enviable slate of pitching—to a World Series trophy.
But things collapsed quickly after that, eventually pushing the Nationals to deal their superstar Soto, who by that time had
leapfrogged Robles, who struggled with injuries and inconsistency. Robles was eventually DFA’d in May of 2024, the last member of that World Series team to depart. Flags fly forever; players do not.
The curtain falling on Robles’s time in Washington set up a new act for him in the other Washington. Robles chose to sign with the Mariners shortly after having seen them play his former team over a three-game set, saying he liked the vibes around a club that seemed to be “having fun.” Like Josh Naylor this year, Robles was an immediate fan favorite from the instant he took the field for the Mariners and injected some liveliness into an offense that had looked at times downright somnambulant.
But it’s been a tough year for Robles in his sophomore season with Seattle. Tough might be underselling it, actually—he was knocked out by a gruesome shoulder injury in the third series of the season that required many months of rehab and cast his status in doubt for a 2025 return at all. During his time on the IL, his mother passed away, and Robles returned to the DR for a time for her funeral. Once finally healthy, he was then was slowed in his return to the big-league club by a suspension after he reacted badly after being hit by multiple pitches in a rehab assignment. Robles’s storybook restart in Seattle seemed to be sputtering out, but he never lost his faith.
“I believe that God has a purpose for you,” said Robles prior to Saturday’s Game 1 of the ALDS. “I definitely think that, you know, it was His plan for — maybe to take me out of the regular season but have me ready for here, for the postseason. So you have to just trust His process.”
Robles has already impacted the Mariners’ postseason, returning in time for a key regular-season series in Houston against the Astros, perpetual owners of the AL West division title. Robles’s diving catch secured a series win and helped propel the Mariners to taking control of the division for the first time in decades.
At 17.14, this catch was the highest Championship Leverage Index (cLI) play of the season, meaning no play had more at stake for the Mariners. Had this ball dropped and the runner (or runners) scored, the Mariners would have been facing one run in with just one out, or worst-case scenario a tied game, on the road in a hostile environment where a sleepy Astros crowd suddenly smelled blood in the water. By cWPA (Championship Win Probability Added) it was the biggest regular-season out of the Dipoto era. For a player who loves the drama, it’s been an appropriately outsized return for the sparkplug Robles, rising from the ashes of his devastating injury.
“I mean, I thank God, give Him all the grace, all the thanks, because I honestly didn’t think I was going to
make it in time,“ said Robles. ”So I just thank Him for letting me be able to be here.“
Now Robles is ready for another postseason push, this time with the Mariners.
“Right now I think you feel kind of the same vibes or energy from back then,” he said about his return to the postseason. “You can kind of just compare them to what this team is living…I’ve said it before. You know, the same vibes, the same kind of mentality, going out there with the same purpose. I think this team has really collectively came together on the field to where it feels like just one player, and I think that’s something pretty special to be a part of.”
The biggest difference for Robles this time around isn’t just the color of the uniform he’ll be wearing. It’s about the man inside it, one who has seen the game’s highest highs along with life’s lowest lows, who has struggled and fallen and risen again, supported by his new franchise, which encourages him to be himself.
“[My favorite thing about being a Mariner] is I think just how freely I’ve been able to play my game. I think from the moment I stepped in the clubhouse, the team told me, just be yourself. Don’t try to be anyone else. And that’s what I’ve been doing, you know, just playing my game–doing what I have to do, impacting the game in the way that I can and help out the team when — in ways that I can and just enjoying it out there.“
Special thanks to staffers Ryan Blake and Zach Mason who assisted with finding details on Robles’s catch for this article
