The Seattle Mariners improved quite a bit offensively a year ago, but they were still lacking when it came to production from the top spot in their lineup.

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Despite being a top-10 offense in runs scored, Mariners leadoff hitters were near the bottom of the league in several categories, including 27th in OPS and 24th in both on-base percentage and wRC+.

It’s an area the club can stand improve this season, and it’s also one that figures to have a different look with newly acquired Brendan Donovan expected to open the season in the leadoff spot.

How does what Donovan brings to the table improve the Mariners’ top spot line the lineup? Mike Salk broke it down on a recent edition of Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

‘Just a better hitter’

The Mariners were forced to change their leadoff plans early last year when Victor Robles suffered a fractured shoulder on their first road trip. They used a combination of Julio Rodríguez and Dylan Moore in his place for a brief stint before J.P. Crawford assumed the role for an extended period. And in late July, they settled on Randy Arozarena for the remainder of the season.

There are some productive hitters in that group, but Mariners leadoff hitters finished with an underwhelming .237/.311/.348 slash line and .659 OPS. Arozarena struggled there in particular, hitting .218 with a .302 on-base percentage and .645 OPS in the leadoff role.

Insert Donovan, who has a career .282/.361/.411 slash line with a .772 OPS over four seasons. M’s leadoff hitters did have more home runs (15) than Donovan’s 162-game career average (13), but Donovan’s average of 32 doubles is a bit better than the 28 hit from Seattle’s leadoff spot in 2025.

“So the idea is he should be getting on base more,” Salk said. “He should be hitting more doubles and putting pressure on the other team. He should have a higher batting average by another 50 points or so, and the OPS should be a lot (higher). He’s just a better hitter, just a flat out better hitter than what they had at that position last year.”

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Another area that stood out to Salk was the strikeout disparity. Donovan is averaging 89 strikeouts over 162 games compared to the 165 totaled by M’s leadoff hitters in 2025.

“It’s a crazy difference,” he said.

A ‘real pest’

Donovan’s patience and ability to make contact make him a hitter capable of grinding out a pitcher and elevating their pitch count, but he actually saw less pitches per plate appearance last season than Crawford and Arozarena, who accounted for 82.5% (599 of 726) of the Mariners’ plate appearances from the leadoff spot. Crawford averaged 4.17 pitchers per plate appearance and Arozarena 4.05, while Donovan averaged 3.72.

But the difference to Salk is what Donovan does when he gets deep into counts.

“It’s not like they haven’t had guys with the ability to take pitches and grind through at-bats. All of those guys are capable of doing that, but I think what you get from Donovan is he’s able to grind through the at-bats and make them pay off by getting on base, by coming up with hits, by avoiding strikeouts, by an OPS and even a slugging percentage that are a step up from what the Mariners have had in that spot in the past,” Salk said.

“You’re not gonna hit a lot of home runs. That’s not his game, but if and when he does kind of figure out T-Mobile Park and what that looks like, he should be a real pest. He should be really annoying to play against and he should help the guys who hit right after him by putting more pressure on the pitcher and exhausting him.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays form 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

More on the Seattle Mariners

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• MLB Network’s Amsinger has some bold Mariners predictions
• Buster Olney expects M’s prospect Colt Emerson in majors soon
• Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh addresses the ‘elephant in the room’

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