Mariners outfield prospect Taylor Trammell still raking for the Rainiers

The month of April was busy for Taylor Trammell.

The Mariners outfield prospect made his major league debut, played in 27 games, and showed plenty of promise as a piece of a rebuilding Seattle club hungry for playoff contention.

But there was one play in his first month, specifically, that stuck out to the 23-year-old.

Just four innings into Trammell’s debut on April 1, Giants infielder Evan Longoria lasered a ball into right center. The ball may have traveled too fast, in fact, because Trammell, who was Seattle’s Opening Day center fielder, threw a strike into second base that spoiled Longoria’s attempt at a double.

It was a big league throw that Trammell says made him stop and realize that he was, in fact, a big league player.

“My debut was fun,” Trammell said ahead of his first appearance at Cheney Stadium on Thursday night in Tacoma. “I had a blast and learned a lot from a lot of guys … just learning how to be a big leaguer. For me personally, I learned what I needed to do to stay up there. The consistency, feeling good, and ultimately, just learning how to be myself.”

Trammell played an important role for the rest of his debut. He drew a crucial walk during a six-run rally in the eighth inning. He walked again later that night, and checked in with his first major league hit the day after.

His first Mariners home run was on April 10 in Minnesota, and he smashed three more in his 27-game stint with the Mariners.

After piecing together valuable performances in his opening weeks, Trammell’s batting average dwindled, and his strikeout rate spiked. Meanwhile, Mariners top prospect Jarred Kelenic’s play during Triple-A Tacoma’s opening homestand warranted a spot on the major league roster, and Trammell was optioned to Tacoma in a series of roster moves on May 13.

The plan, as Trammell had discussed with his coaching staff, was to focus on hitting off-speed pitches. But it seems, rather, that he’s hitting everything that comes his way.

In seven games with the Rainiers, Trammell has posted a .516 batting average, along with four home runs and seven total extra-base hits. He has reached base nearly 53% of the time, and his slugging percentage has reached a seemingly-impossible 1.000 mark.

He has at least one hit in each of his games with Tacoma, including five multi-hit games.

Trammell has cut his strikeout rate nearly in half, too — he’s struck out only eight times in 31 at-bats for the Rainiers.

“(I’m) just trying to stay up the middle,” Trammell said of his hitting routine. “Really just staying up the middle, and not pulling off the ball by any means. (That) gives me a chance to stay in the zone a little bit longer.”

Regarding his ability to hit the ball consistently hard, Trammell says there’s a simple explanation.

“Getting a good pitch to hit,” he said with a laugh. “I think sometimes people try to complicate it. Get a good pitch to hit, and put a really good swing on it. If you do all of the work out here and in the cage and out on the field, you get the (job) done.”

Trammell was part of a seven-player trade between the Mariners and the San Diego Padres before last summer’s trade deadline. In the deal, Seattle sent catcher Austin Nola and relievers Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla to the Padres, and received Trammell, Ty France, Luis Torrens, and Andres Munoz in return.

After Trammell slashed at a .311/.392/.644 clip for the Mariners in spring training, his efforts resulted in an Opening Day roster spot. Since then, Trammell says it’s been a collective effort by the organization to assist with his development.

“It’s a whole bunch of people. It’s a collective group,” Trammell said. “The guys up there (in Seattle) took me under their wing, and they really taught me a lot of things on and off the field. The guys up there are great, and the guys here (in Tacoma) are great.”

This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.