Even in shortened season, Mariners’ Braden Bishop looking to solidify himself as a big leaguer
Braden Bishop had a more eventful introduction to the big leagues than most.
Last March, he debuted for the Seattle Mariners in Japan by replacing Ichiro Suzuki, the club’s legendary right fielder, when Ichiro left a major league baseball field as a player for the final time.
It was a moment Bishop, who was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma following that season-opening series, said he would never forget. With a return to Seattle’s clubhouse on his mind, he raked his first month with the Rainiers, was called up in May briefly, and then again the first week of June.
But, what could have turned into a long summer audition with the Mariners took a different turn in his second game back with Seattle, when Bishop felt his back lock up after catching a fly ball in center field. When he returned to the dugout between innings, he couldn’t stand up straight.
He was removed from the game, and later hospitalized with a lacerated spleen doctors connected to a pitch that hit him in the ribs while he was still playing for Tacoma.
After spending the next three months recovering, he returned to the field for the Mariners in September, but didn’t have much time to find consistency at the plate, logging four hits in 17 games, or in the outfield.
Bishop, now 26 years old, showed up to spring training in Peoria, Ariz. in February fully recovered, and looking to turn a corner, with a chance at making Seattle’s Opening Day roster in front of him.
“I think the biggest thing with playing in the big leagues is you can’t play there if you don’t have a certain level of confidence, whether you’re succeeding or failing, and I honestly didn’t feel like I took one at-bat in the big leagues where I was confident last year,” Bishop said during a video conference call with reporters Monday.
“You can make a couple excuses, whether it be injury or opportunity, but regardless, I stepped in the box and I wasn’t confident, so I had to be honest with myself and be aware that there were going to be times that I would step in the box again, and probably not be confident, but I had to hold myself accountable.”
The organization’s No. 18 prospect, Bishop has always been a quality outfielder, but his production at the plate still wasn’t coming around this spring, and he logged just one hit in 13 plate appearances in Cactus League play with five strikeouts before baseball was shut down.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, just before the Mariners closed their spring training facility, Bishop was one of four players optioned to Triple-A. During the shutdown, when he was back home in California, he said he focused on putting himself in a position to be ready should baseball resume.
“Using the short amount of time we were at spring training to my advantage, (I took) what I felt like I needed to work on there, and worked on it through stay-at-home,” he said. “I feel like some things are starting to turn over, and I can see them in the box and on the field, so hopefully with more at-bats, I’ll start to feel even better.”
During a live batting practice session Monday morning against Taylor Williams, Bishop smoked the final pitch he took right back at the net behind the mound.
“I took two at-bats and the first one I didn’t feel like I had stepped in the box ready to go, so I held myself accountable so that second at-bat I did,” he said. “And, much better at-bat, better result, and I think that confidence will breed a different level of swagger in the box that I feel like you need.
“I’ve taken good swings plenty of times in my life, but if there’s no confidence behind it, it’s just not going to work.”
Bishop said he arrived in Seattle on June 29, completed the COVID-19 intake testing the next day, and was cleared by last Thursday. He said he was concerned about the virus, like many other players, when considering whether or not to play this season.
His younger brother, Hunter, who is in the Giants’ organization and remained in Arizona during the shutdown, tested positive not long before camps opened up again.
Bishop said his brother had eaten out at a restaurant where a server was infected with the virus, then woke up one morning unable to taste his coffee or food, and unable to smell.
“It’s a good example for me that the virus doesn’t take time off,” Bishop said. “He’s healthy, athletic and he got it, and while he doesn’t have extreme symptoms, we don’t know what the adverse effects could be down the line, and I think that’s the biggest thing we’re both worried about.”
Bishop said it was scary news to hear, but he consulted with doctors he works with at his charity and ultimately decided to play. He tries to do his part to keep himself and those around him safe, he said, often wearing a mask on the field.
“They’ve provided me with a lot of good information about how to stay safe and do my best,” he said. “They do understand the situation that I’m in personally, but also we’re in as players. … For now, I’m here and I’m going to try and stay safe as best I can.”
Where Bishop is at in his career, still trying to solidify himself as a major leaguer, was also a consideration, he said.
“There’s a lot of guys in the same situation,” he said. “We’re unproven, whether that be through experience and games or stats, and you want to try and take advantage. It’s just a very unique situation to have 60 games. … We’re here and we’ll try to make the best of it.”
Bishop said, as he tries to carve out his spot in Seattle’s organization, he doesn’t want the pandemic to play a part in determining his future.
“There’s so much going on, more so than ever, in the outside world, and I don’t want to use everything, whether it looks like we’re going to play, or it looks like we’re not, I don’t want it to be an excuse for me not to be ready,” he said.
“I’m realistic in knowing that my window in the major leagues, whether it be two years, whether it be 10 years, is going to be such a short time, and I don’t want to let this crazy 60-game season be the reason I wasn’t ready and I played poorly, and then my career was over because of that.
“I think that’s the biggest thing is just come to the park every day focused and letting everything around me kind of play out, knowing I don’t don’t have a ton of control, but what I do have control of, I need to be on top of.”
This story was originally published July 7, 2020 at 2:25 PM.
