When the Seattle Mariners’ batting lineup originally came out on Friday, Josh Naylor was in it.
But then the Mariners shared an updated lineup, and Naylor was nowhere to be seen.
In his place at DH was Mitch Garver, and it had Seattle fans immediately concerned.
The Seattle Times’ Tim Booth found Naylor and asked what had happened, and Naylor just shared, “I’m all right.”
The Mariners must be hoping that’s true.
Naylor has been electric since coming to town in a trade from the Diamondbacks.
In 18 games, he already has 11 stolen bases, which would mark his career-high for a season just by itself (and he already had 11 with Arizona before the deal, too).
Naylor is now batting .292 with the Mariners. He has a .352 on-base percentage and a .523 slugging to give him an .875 OPS.
That includes three doubles and four homers in those 18 games, with 10 runs driven in and 11 scored.
He hasn’t even been caught stealing in all that swiping.
Naylor has batted in the heart of the order and added depth to a lineup that needed a couple of power bats and added them in the forms of Naylor and Eugenio Suarez.
Suarez has been ice cold since his acquisition, but Naylor has picked up the slack there.
In Naylor’s absence, Seattle will need Suarez to pick it up a bit.
At least Cal Raleigh is back in the lineup after a day off.
The Mariners are in Queens to take on the New York Mets in a key series of contenders. They’ll need everyone available to deliver, and hopefully get Naylor back soon to help.
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