Once he stopped trying so hard to prove he was a major-leaguer, Ryan Bliss started playing like one.
And on Monday, the Mariners’ new second baseman got to be one for the first time.
Officially promoted from Triple-A Tacoma earlier in the afternoon, Bliss was in the lineup for Monday’s series opener against the Houston Astros, set to make his MLB debut playing second base and batting eighth for the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
Bliss, 24, takes the roster spot of veteran second baseman Jorge Polanco, who was placed on the 10-day injured list Monday because of a troublesome right hamstring.
“I’m still smiling about it,” Bliss said of the news he received from Tacoma manager John Russell on Sunday afternoon. “It’s just the words that you’ve been waiting to hear, you know: ‘You’re going to the big leagues.’ So it’s been an experience so far, and I can’t wait [to play].”
It just so happened that Bliss’ family and girlfriend were in Tacoma over the holiday weekend visiting and watching him play with the Rainiers. They were scheduled to fly home to Georgia, but they canceled those plans so they could be in attendance for his MLB debut on Monday.
“Everybody’s here,” he said. “It worked out perfectly.”
Bliss, listed at 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds, was acquired last year, along with Josh Rojas and Dominic Canzone, in the trade that sent closer Paul Sewald to Arizona.
Bliss had a productive first spring training with the Mariners, then said he spent his first month with the Rainiers trying to show that he belonged with the big-league club.
“I think early I was just trying to do too much — trying to make it up here, trying to impress,” he said. “When in reality, what I do in my game is what they want. So just going back to what I do, how I do it and just being myself, finding my identity as a player, as a person. All that has gone into me getting right here.”
Baseball America ranks Bliss as the Mariners’ No. 15 prospect. In 50 games with Tacoma, he has a .247/.382/.445 slash line (.827 OPS) with seven homers, nine doubles and three triples. He’s also 28 for 34 in stolen-base attempts, ranking third in all of minor-league ball and first in Triple-A.
Since May 1, Bliss is hitting .289 with four homers, four doubles, 17 walks, 17 strikeouts and 14 stolen bases, getting on base at a .412 clip and slugging .482 (for an .894 OPS).
Polanco’s injury thought to be ‘mild’
Polanco, 30, is scheduled to have an MRI on his right hamstring on Tuesday morning, general manager Justin Hollander said.
“We don’t anticipate a lengthy absence,” Hollander said. “We feel like it’s fairly mild.”
On Sunday, Polanco left the game at the Nationals because of persistent tightness in his hamstring, which caused him to miss seven games earlier this month.
Polanco had multiple stints on the injured list with the Minnesota Twins last season because of a left hamstring strain.
The Mariners had considered placing Polanco on the IL earlier this month, but they held off hoping he would be able to return sooner than he did.
“If we’re being honest, it’s probably my fault we didn’t put him on the IL to begin with,” Hollander said. “We had hoped to get him back within the 10-day period, and we did, just barely. Obviously having him in the lineup, especially when you’re going East in those ballparks, is very valuable. And he wanted to be out there and we were making progress, so let it drift probably too long.
“And then he felt tight again [Sunday] in the game and just felt like it was the right thing to do now, to just let it heal.”
Locklear earns promotion to Tacoma
First baseman Tyler Locklear, 23, has been promoted to Tacoma and is scheduled to make his Triple-A debut with the Rainiers on Tuesday in Sacramento.
A 2022 second-round pick out of Virginia Commonwealth, Locklear posted a .291/.401/.532 slash line (.933 OPS) in 41 games at Class AA Arkansas to open this season, with eight homers and 12 doubles in 148 at-bats.
“What he’s done is just dominate at a level that is really hard for right-handed hitters to go dominate,” Hollander said. “That ballpark in Arkansas is a tough place to hit, especially for right-handed hitters, and he’s gone out and destroyed that environment.”
Baseball America ranks Locklear as the Mariners’ No. 5 prospect.
