SEATTLE-. The receptor Mitch Garver and the Seattle Mariners They formalized a two-year, $24 million contract on Thursday.
Garver, 32, hit .270 with 19 homers and 50 RBIs in 87 games for Texas this year. He averaged .226 with three home runs and 14 RBIs in 14 postseason games, and helped the Rangers win the World Series for the first time in their history.
“Mitch is a hitter we have been looking for since the beginning of the offseason,” Jerry Dipoto, president of baseball operations, said in a statement. “He is a proven winner, who brings a good combination of discipline in the strike zone, talent on the bases and power in the middle places of our batting order. He also adds strength and variants in key positions.”
Cal Raleigh was Seattle’s starting catcher this season and set career bests with 30 home runs and 75 RBIs in 145 games. Garver could get turns at designated hitter as he backs up Raleigh behind the plate.
Seattle also has Mexican Seby Zavala, acquired in November through a trade with Arizona.
The Mariners were third in the American League West, with a record of 88-74. They made the playoffs as a wild card in 2022 and advanced to the American League division series before being swept by Houston.
Garver was selected by Minnesota in the ninth round of the 2013 amateur draft. He debuted in the majors with the Twins in 2017.
The player has a .252 average with 82 home runs and 228 RBIs in 451 Major League games. His best season was 2019, when he hit .273 with 31 homers and 67 RBIs for Minnesota.
FOUNTAIN: AP
