How faith has shaped the baseball journey of Mariners outfielder Jake Fraley

The verse kept popping up wherever Jake Fraley went that week. He was a teenager then, in the eighth grade, and beginning to discover what would become a lifelong commitment to his faith.

Psalm 37:4 – Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Fraley came across this verse while studying scripture one day, and found purpose in its words.

He realized how much of a guiding principle it would be moving forward when the verse seemed to start following him around. His aunt casually mentioned it in conversation that week. So did his brother. It showed up on his Facebook feed. He saw it in the other books he was reading at the time.

“I felt like it was the Lord telling me something in that season that I was in,” Fraley said. “It’s just a verse that has really meant a lot to me going forward — just remembering and tracing back to that time when I really started walking with the Lord for the first time.

“It was just something that meant a lot to me.”

Years after his first encounter with the verse, when he turned 18, Fraley gave it physical permanence. He got his first tattoo, a birthday present from his dad — Psalm 37:4, inked in script across the top of his back.

FAITH IN BASEBALL

He carried the words with him as he became a husband and father of two, as he navigated a stellar college baseball career at LSU, as he worked his way through four seasons in the Rays and Mariners minor league systems, as he made his major league debut with Seattle last August.

For Fraley, now 24, faith and baseball became connected.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Him,” Fraley said. “He has me here for a reason. For me, it’s seeking Him out every single day to understand what he needs me to do while I’m here.

“I’m going to spend more of my life not playing baseball than I am playing baseball, so I want to make sure I take advantage of why He has me here.”

Whether that’s reaching others through words or his actions on the baseball field, Fraley wants to play each day with purpose. This year, as one of the young outfielders projected to make the Mariners’ Opening Day roster, it looks like his path will continue in Seattle.

Fraley is considered the No. 9 prospect in Seattle’s system, and reached the big leagues last summer, playing in 12 games. This season, he will be one of the many the Mariners take an extended look at as they ramp up their youth movement.

“That’s all us players can ask for is an opportunity,” Fraley said. “When it’s there, you obviously want to make the most of it. But, you don’t want to over-hype it, so I’m really going to focus on trying to keep everything very lighthearted.

“It’s something you read a lot in the Bible — it’s patient endurance. It’s really having that humbleness and that understanding that, for great things to come, you need to have patience, but also have the endurance to see it through, to really understand that it’s a process.”

Everything was a process to get to this point, Fraley said, so he expects to continue with the same mindset.

“It’s just utilizing that opportunity,” he said, “and enjoying me being in that moment, and understanding that it’s a blessing for me to be here.”

BIG LEAGUE DEBUT

Fraley’s introduction to the big leagues didn’t unfold as hoped. He was excited when his debut moment came — his first game was against the club that drafted him in Tampa Bay — after he posted a .298/.365/.545 combined slash with 27 doubles, five triples, 19 home runs 80 RBI and 22 stolen bases in 99 games between Double-A Arkansas and Triple-A Tacoma.

Less than a week into his big league career, Fraley received news that the wife and 14-month-old son of his close friend, Rays pitching prospect Blake Bivens, were murdered in Virginia.

Fraley returned to the field for the Mariners the following day, playing in just seven more games before he was shut down for the season with a thumb injury the second week of September.

Overall, he hit 6-for-40 (.150) in the 12 games he appeared in with the Mariners with two doubles.

Fraley said he learned a lot about himself during his short stint with Seattle, and gained a greater understanding of who he needed to be as a believer and a baseball player.

“In totality of it all, it’s just more self awareness of who I am from a spiritual standpoint, but also from a baseball standpoint,” he said. “Which, to me, has made all the difference in the world, and is going to continue to as far as where my career is headed.”

Though he had limited time to put it into action, the Mariners helped Fraley establish a seven-day routine designed to clarify his transition to the majors.

“He had a really good season last year,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I think we lose sight of that because it didn’t end so well for him after we called him up.

“So, getting back on track there. … I know he’s got some very high goals set for himself. Jake is very, very serious.”

AN OFFSEASON VISIT

When Seattle’s season ended, Fraley returned to his home in Miami, where he spends the offseason with his wife and two children.

He was one of the players who Servais — the manager makes a handful of trips to see some of his players each winter — came to visit.

Servais watched Fraley hit and go through his normal offseason workout routine, and met with some of the instructors Fraley works with in Miami.

Fraley and his wife, Angelica, then took Servais out for Cuban food to get “a little taste of what Miami is all about.”

“We were able to have a lot of light conversations about quite a few things,” Fraley said. “Some things that were on the table as far as baseball stuff, and kind of moving forward as a team, as an organization, where he sees it, where he wants the team to go, and we enjoyed ourselves.”

Fraley and his wife opened up about being a young family with children, which Servais, a married father of three, could relate to.

“I’ve been through this,” Servais said. “I know exactly where they’re at. It’s fun for me. You talk about players giving back, but myself giving back about the things you learned and some of the mistakes you made along the way — you pass that along.

“And all of the sudden you see their faces light up. ‘OK, this is something we’ve talked about.’ Assure some things there. I enjoyed it.”

Seeing such a driven player like Fraley smile and run around with his kids and enjoy his wife’s company made it one of the most enjoyable player visits Servais said he’s had.

“They’re young, they’ve got two young kids, they’re trying to figure it out and just kind of understand where they’re at,” Servais said. “He’s got a lot going on, and there’s nobody that takes it more serious than he does. But, trying to get him to relax is the big thing.”

FRALEY’S FUTURE

There’s importance in keeping baseball lighthearted, and Fraley knows that, but he is still diligent in his preparation.

Thursday morning he sat at his locker in the Mariners’ clubhouse in Peoria, adding to a small notebook already bursting with thoughts about his hitting activities from the first few weeks of spring training.

“It’s just my at-bats, and how I feel throughout the day,” he said. “I actually just started doing it this year. It kind of clears things up. … I can write down what drills I did, or what I was doing that day to kind of find it again.

“I’ve been around a lot of guys that do it, and talking to them about how it benefits them. … It’s a long season. It’s a lot of at-bats, a lot of days, a lot of different pitchers. You feel different every single day, so it helps.”

He’s already noticed a difference in his plate appearances, just by having the journal to refer back to. He has a double, homer, pair of RBI and three walks in the seven Cactus League games he’s appeared in.

“He had a great spring last year,” Servais said. “We didn’t know much about him. We know a lot more about him now. He’s really focused. That’s one thing I always say about Jake.

“He’s got a plan every day when he gets to the ballpark — what he wants to get out of that day. He’s realized the value of routine, and he’s got a good routine right now. It’s his time.”

Fraley is ready to take advantage of it, wherever on the field he is playing. He doesn’t have a true outfield position — he’s equipped to play all three.

“I think the way the game is going now, I think all outfielders are ready for any position,” he said. “You’ve got to be ready to play anywhere. Even if you are primarily a center fielder, fast guy, if you play until you’re 35, you’re not going to be running like you were, so eventually you’re going to end up playing all three.

“I think understanding all three positions at a young age and at the beginning of your career is a huge thing, because it just helps you along. I’ve been playing all three since college. I’m completely comfortable with all three, and the Mariners do a very good job of (preparing you for) that as you come up through the system.”

Whenever and wherever it is Fraley roams the outfield for the first time at T-Mobile Park this season, he will surely circle back to that verse that has meant so much to him, and how his faith has helped shape his baseball future.

“I’ve experienced Him in so many ways that there’s no going back,” Fraley said. “He’s alive and He’s here, and He’s done everything for me.”

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.