PEORIA, Ariz. — When he put on a first baseman’s glove last season, Luke Raley sometimes wondered if he should also take a mask and a stick with him onto the infield.
Because he knows there were times when he looked a bit like a hockey goalie trying to play first base.
“That’s kind of how it felt,” he said. “I was just trying to not let the ball get past me.”
It’s different now. An outfielder for the bulk of his career, Raley had a full offseason to wrap his mind around the idea of being a full-time first baseman, and then a full spring training to prepare for the job.
“I would say I’m a natural outfielder,” Raley said. “But I want to play where the team needs me to play and do what I can do. And it is nice coming in knowing that I’m going to play more first base because I get to work over there a lot. Last year in spring, I would take some ground balls, but my primary work was still in the outfield.”
Perry Hill, the Mariners’ infield coaching guru, took on the project of making Raley a viable first baseman last summer after the club parted ways with former All-Star Ty France.
The project continues this spring, and Hill has been impressed with Raley’s commitment to improve his defense. Hill has harped on footwork fundamentals with Raley.
“He’s come leaps and bounds since last year,” Hill said. “He’s got a tremendous work ethic, a tremendous attitude. He’s really improved picking the ball. He puts his mind to it. We tell him what we want, how to do it, what we need, and he applies himself.”
After a slow start last April, Raley had a career year in his first season with the Mariners, posting a 3.2 bWAR with 22 home runs and a 129 wRC+ (where 100 is average) in 137 games.
Raley’s raw power, his unconventional athleticism, his hustle up the first-base line — and, yes, even his elite bunting skills — endeared him to teammates, coaches and fans during his first season in Seattle.
“He’s a guy I’d love to be a teammate with for the rest of my career,” catcher Cal Raleigh said last season.
Over the final two months, Raley and Justin Turner shared first-base duties and the results far exceeded any reasonable expectations.
After Aug. 1, Raley slashed .276/.382/.598 (.980 OPS) with 11 homers and 29 RBI in 153 plate appearances, and his 181 wRC+ tied Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the best among all MLB first basemen over the season’s final two months.
The combined 2.4 fWAR between Raley (1.7) and Turner (0.7) over those final two months was the highest at the position for any MLB team.
This winter, the Mariners tried to recreate that platoon by re-signing Turner. They made an aggressive offer for veteran Carlos Santana too. Both Turner (Cubs) and Santana (Guardians) chose lesser deals elsewhere.
The Mariners also explored the first-base trade market. They had exploratory talks with the Chicago Cubs about Cody Bellinger before he was dealt to the New York Yankees.
The Mariners ultimately concluded that Raley might be a better version of Bellinger anyway. Consider:
• Since the start of 2023, Bellinger has 44 homers, 52 doubles, 29 steals and a 122 wRC+ in 1,125 plate appearances.
• Since the start of 2023, Raley has 41 homers, 42 doubles, 25 steals and a 129 wRC+ in 861 plate appearances.
Raley, with a projection pre-arbitration salary of $780,000, also fit in the Mariners’ limited budget. Bellinger’s 2025 salary: $27.5 million.
So in the end, the Mariners circled back to Raley as their primary first baseman. The Mariners also signed veteran infielder Donovan Solano as an option at first.
It’s not necessarily expected to be a strict platoon. Manager Dan Wilson is open to giving Raley, a 6-foot-4 lefty, some plate appearances against left-handed pitching, and Solano could see regular at-bats at designated hitter (and perhaps some time at third base, too).
It helps that Raley seemed impervious to the challenges of hitting at T-Mobile Park last season. In 229 plate appearances at home, he hit .264/.344/.557 (.901 OPS) with 15 homers and 12 doubles. (He had seven homers and a .666 OPS in 266 plate appearances on the road.)
“I think that (T-Mobile Park) bothers right-handed hitters more than left-handed hitters. I’ve never had a problem there,” he said. “I’ve always hit well in Seattle; I see the ball well there. I don’t want to overthink it. I don’t want to put the thought in my head that there could be something with the batter’s eye or whatever the case may be. Just go up there with a lot of confidence and just do my thing.”
Raley is projected to bat in the No. 5 spot in the Mariners’ lineup.
“His best tool probably is just his competitiveness and his desire to play hard,” Wilson said. “And when he’s out there, you just feel it, and hopefully we’re getting him as many at-bats we can down here in spring training, and during the season, because his bat is electric. … You’ve got to love having that in your lineup.”
In his second spring with the Mariners, Raley said he’s getting much more comfortable at first. He’s also settling in as a first-time father after he and his wife, Katie Mihalik, welcomed the birth of their daughter, Reagan, on Feb. 25.
“I’m in a good spot,” Raley said.