‘You can help guys breathe a little bit.’ Kyle Seager embracing role as veteran voice in young Mariners clubhouse

Nine seasons into his major league baseball career, Kyle Seager has become the longest tenured Seattle Mariner.

Felix Hernandez relinquished that title when his 15-year stretch with Seattle ended last season, and is now spending his spring in Florida, chasing a potential rotation job with the Braves.

And while other longtime Mariners can still be spotted around spring camp in uniform — Ichiro and Franklin Gutierrez have been out on the field working with players this week in advisory roles — Seager is the one with playing days still ahead of him.

“I always had Felix,” Seager joked about his new title following Wednesday’s workout. “I always kind of had that crutch. I didn’t get these questions. … It’s definitely strange. It’s humbling too, though.

“I’m proud that I’ve been up there for about 8 1/2 years. It’s definitely something I’m proud of and the longevity is something I don’t take lightly. Getting to settle and know a lot of people — though a lot of people have changed over the years — getting to have personal relationships has been nice.”

Seager is more than a decade removed from when the Mariners drafted him in the third round out of North Carolina in 2009.

He shot through the minors in less than three seasons, has played through some of the rougher years in Seattle’s baseball history, some near playoff misses, earned his first All-Star nod back in 2014, and at one point played in 1,155 major league games spanning eight seasons without sustaining a season-altering injury.

Now, following last season’s roster overhaul, Seattle’s 32-year-old third baseman is one of just a handful of veterans roaming a spring training clubhouse packed with young up-and-comers.

“It’s completely different,” Seager said. “It was different last year. You have to embrace the change. We understand the business aspect of it. If something’s not working, you have to make changes and do what’s best for the Mariners.

“You want to be in a situation where you’re competing to win and playing for the postseason and trying to win a championship. That’s the end goal for everybody. But, when we were doing that we didn’t make the playoffs. We came up a little short. … The reality of the situation is we didn’t do what we were supposed to do there, so you can understand the rebuild.

“If it’s not working, you build from the ground. You try to draft well. You trade guys. That’s the nature of the beast.”

Embracing the Mariners’ rebuild

Mariners manager Scott Servais supposes he saw Seager fully embrace the idea of the rebuild during the second half of the 2019 season.

“I saw a big shift in Kyle probably when we got past the trading deadline last year — understanding that this is where we were as far as what our club was going to look like going forward,” Servais said.

As the Mariners parted with most of the veterans in the clubhouse — like Jay Bruce, Edwin Encarnacion and Mike Leake, among others — Servais said Seager became a more prominent voice, coaching up younger players about processes and daily routines, answering more questions, and generally being more open with teammates. And that figures to continue this spring.

“I’ve seen a lot more and experienced more, so you can help guys breathe a little bit,” Seager said. “This is everybody’s dream. All the guys were the best player where they came from, and a lot of the guys haven’t had failure. So, once that happens, there’s a lot of growth and learning from there.

“My role is to help all the guys continue to grow and help them along. That benefits me, too, though. If we improve a lot and get better quickly, that’s great for me. I want to win. That’s phenomenal. But, you can’t skip the steps. You’ve got to build it right.”

Passing along lessons learned

For his part in this rebuilding process, Seager draws on experiences from the early days of his big-league career to help his younger teammates develop, and remembers what veteran players taught him along the way.

“I remember being the young guy in that clubhouse,” he said. “I remember being the young guy in the big leagues, and I remember how overwhelming it can be. You get playing against guys that you watched play on TV, and these guys are going to be saying, ‘Man, I was watching these guys in high school, and now I’m going to have to compete against them.’ You’ve got young kids competing against grown men. That’s a big mental aspect that you have to overcome.

“But, I remember there were guys when I came up that were really good for me. … These guys teach you how to be professional, teach you how to not only survive, but to flourish, to do well and what it takes to continue to do it for a full season.”

He knows that’s a substantial way he can help the Mariners as this rebuild moves into its second season. Like so many others, he hears the hype surrounding the Mariners’ young prospects, and as they begin to filter into the big-league clubhouse back in Seattle, his veteran voice will undoubtedly make the transition smoother.

“You have a very young clubhouse and a group of guys that are trying to make names for themselves, which is phenomenal,” Seager said. “If you have talent and are trying to make a name for yourself, you’ve got a good work ethic, you’ve got that desire to prove yourself.

“That’s when you’re going to get the most out of people. That’s a really good thing.”

This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 5:00 PM.

Lauren Smith

The News Tribune

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Lauren Smith is a sports reporter at The News Tribune. She has covered high school sports for TNT and The Olympian, as well as the Seattle Mariners and Washington Huskies. She is a graduate of UW and Emerald Ridge High School.