On Friday, the Seattle Mariners claimed first baseman Michael Toglia off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds. Toglia went to highschool in Gig Harbor, Washington, so the Seattle Mariners give him an opportunity to return house for a contemporary begin. The Colorado Rockies drafted him within the first spherical of the 2019 MLB Draft after three seasons of school baseball at UCLA. In 290 profession MLB video games, Toglia hits .198/.275/.384 with 42 house runs throughout 1095 plate appearances. He has amassed -3.4 fWAR in that interval.
Regardless of his struggles on the main league stage, Toglia nonetheless gives some intriguing energy. In 2024, he hit 25 house runs with a slash line of .218/.311/.456. His anticipated weighted on base common was .361, which ranked thirty first in all of baseball that season per Fangraphs (min. 100 plate appearances). Regardless, the shortage of progress on these metrics in two hitter pleasant environments gives some trigger for concern.
Toglia now not owns any minor league choices, so the Seattle Mariners should designate him for task if he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster. It is usually doable that the Seattle Mariners will want his 40-man roster spot sooner or later pending future strikes. For now, he gives some depth at first base coming into the offseason.
Seattle Mariners Declare Michael Toglia Off Waivers
The Seattle Mariners lacked manufacturing at first base behind Josh Naylor this season. When Naylor missed time, Patrick Knowledge took at bats at first base, tallying one house run with a slash line of .106/.160/.191 and -0.6 fWAR. For perspective, Naylor himself compiled 0.6 fWAR all the 2026 season in 152 video games and 650 plate appearances. Knowledge solely performed 19 video games and had 50 plate appearances.
Toglia was not significantly better in 2026 both although. In 10 video games and 28 plate appearances, he hit .115/.179/.192 with an fWAR of -0.5. With this transfer, the Mariners are simply hoping they’ll hold an area product round who has some earlier success. He’s a lot youthful than Knowledge, so the probability of a bounce again is marginally larger, hypothetically. The truth is that Toglia could solely be on the 40-man roster for a brief period of time. That is typical roster shuffling through the MLB offseason. Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply that the Mariners don’t see something in Toglia. They clearly acquired him for a purpose.
Toglia Hopes a Return House Can Revive His MLB Profession
Per their scouting software, Fangraphs gave Toglia a 60/60 uncooked energy grade and a 60/60 fielding software grade. Regardless of his low hit (30/35) and velocity (30/30) projections, he nonetheless showcases nice energy on the Main League stage. In 2024, his laborious hit and exit velocity charges ranked within the 94th and 91st percentiles per baseballsavant. The wrestle with Toglia has been his whiff charge; he doesn’t make contact usually in any respect. But, his chase share that season was solely 58%. If the Mariners can get him again to swinging at good pitches, the laborious contact remains to be there for some productive at bats.
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