Outfield prospect Taylor Trammell ‘very excited’ to join Mariners ranks in Tacoma
Taylor Trammell placed a hand on each railing, swung his legs forward, and hopped back into the dugout Wednesday afternoon at Cheney Stadium to rejoin his teammates.
The 22-year-old outfield prospect, the headliner in the Mariners’ seven-player trade with the Padres last weekend, hasn’t been in Tacoma long, but he already looks comfortable in his new summer home, and is enjoying the ride in the final month of this abbreviated baseball season.
“I’m just being myself, having as much fun as possible, and just getting after it,” he said Wednesday on a video call following his first intrasquad appearance.
Trammell finished 1-for-4 with two strikeouts, and made a couple of nice catches in left field as he settled in with many of the other up-and-comers in Seattle’s farm system who have been working out in Tacoma since late July.
He conversed with his new teammates throughout the game, sat alongside Mariners top prospect Jarred Kelenic in the dugout, and played alongside Kelenic, who was in center, in the outfield, ultimately giving general manager Jerry Dipoto and others watching from around the stadium another promising preview of what this young organization, teeming with talent, could become in the years ahead.
Trammell played with energy and excitement, and carried that into a nearly 25-minute conversation with the media following the game, when he outlined why he thinks the Mariners are such a good fit.
“We’re a young team,” he said. “I’ve played against the guys and played with some of the guys — in the farm and (some who are in) the big leagues — and the energy, I think it matches well with me.
“I just feel that this is honestly a good opportunity for me just to get out there and just play. Just be myself. … Just going out there and playing my game and contributing as much as possible.”
The Mariners are just as excited to have Trammell in camp. Dipoto said on a video call earlier this week the club’s pursuit of Trammell dates back to his high school baseball days, when he was a first-round draft pick by the Reds in 2016 out of Georgia’s Mount Paran Christian School.
Seattle drafted Kyle Lewis, now the club’s starting center fielder and a front runner for the American League Rookie of the Year award, with its first pick that year at No. 11 overall out of Georgia’s Mercer University. By the time the Mariners’ second pick rolled around, Trammell was already off the board at No. 35 overall and headed to Cincinnati.
“He’s a guy we’ve always had a lot of interest in, and we feel like he has a chance to be an exceptional player,” Dipoto said.
It was four years after that draft Dipoto closed the deal that finally brought Trammell to Seattle. For Trammell, it’s the second time he’s been traded in the past 13 months — he went from the Reds to the Padres at the deadline last year — but as much as a whirlwind as the year may have been, he’s excited to have landed with the Mariners.
“It’s always nice to be wanted,” Trammell said. “It’s always nice for somebody to have their eye on you, take a chance on you, and for me it’s going to pay off. I’m really excited for the opportunity, especially with these guys within the organization, within the front office.
“I’m ecstatic. This is a very good city, very good talent and a very good team to be on, and I’m very excited.”
With Trammell’s arrival, the Mariners now have six prospects ranked in MLB Pipeline’s top 100, including Kelenic (No. 12), outfielder Julio Rodriguez (19), pitcher Emerson Hancock (38), pitcher Logan Gilbert (43), first baseman Evan White (59) and Trammell (60).
Trammell was also the MVP of the 2018 All-Star Futures Game, and consistency in the batter’s box and on the base paths helped him climb quickly through Cincinnati’s minor league ranks. His production dipped some in his first season in Double-A last year with the Reds and Padres — he hit 234/.340/.349 with 12 doubles, four triples, 10 homers, 43 RBI, 20 stolen bases and 67 walks to 122 strikeouts — but also ended it by barreling up the grand slam that lifted Double-A Amarillo to a Texas League title last September.
The Mariners believe Trammell has “untapped power,” Dipoto said, and it appears the young outfielder is beginning to find it. In Wednesday’s game, he had a fly out to left in his first at-bat that sounded like much more. His first hit later was a hard-hit single back up the middle.
Trammell credits his former hitting coach in San Diego, Johnny Washington, for helping him develop a smoother swing. The two worked on decreasing his hand movement in at-bats and making sure Trammell’s body was in the right position to maximize his potential for solid contact and power with every swing.
“I’m 6-foot-2, 215 pounds,” Trammell said. “I need to be hitting the ball very hard, and not just slapping it around or anything like that. So, I’m just being more aggressive in counts, on heaters and just hurting the ball.”
“He’s also a very patient hitter who we feel like has top-of-the-lineup type skills,” Dipoto said.
Trammell impressed when the Mariners saw him in spring training as one of San Diego’s non-roster invites, hitting .375/.423/.583 in 14 games, and continued to work back home in Georgia during the COVID-19 shutdown, when he played sandlot games with some current Mariners — including Lewis, who Trammell knows through his brother, who also attended Mercer — at a local high school field. Justus Sheffield and Shed Long Jr. were among others who played.
“Little did I know they would be my future teammates,” Trammell said.
Trammell’s addition this summer boosts a Mariners outfield system already bursting with up-and-comers like Lewis, Kelenic and top prospect Julio Rodriguez. Being surrounded by talent only motivates Trammell to keep improving.
“I look at it like this — those guys are going to make me better, and in return I think I’m going to make those guys better,” he said.
Which plays into his top priority for the Mariners in the years to come — to win.
“I want to win,” he said. “I want to be able to go out there and have fun with those guys, and look at my grandkids one day and say, ‘I got this (championship) ring 50-something years ago.’ That’s what I want to do.”
