The one who plays outside Brennan Davis he is with the Mariners on a minor league deal. As part of that deal, he has a quote today, via Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. When he starts the clause, he will be offered to all the teams in the league. If any club is willing to offer him a roster spot, the Mariners will have to either add him to their roster or send him to another club. Divish notes that Davis also has an August 1st release.
It appears that Davis has a good chance of earning a roster spot in the coming days. He is crushing the ball with Triple-A Tacoma, currently sporting a .293/.404/.569 line. Even in the context of a friendly Pacific Coast League, that performance results in a 145 wRC+, indicating that Davis was 45% better than the league average. He has eight home runs in 151 plate appearances and is drawing walks at a solid 12.6% clip.
Those numbers will surely catch the attention of other clubs around the league, but it doesn’t look like the Mariners will let him get away. “I don’t see a situation where we don’t keep him in our organization,” said general manager Justin Hollander speaking to Divish. “He’s a powerful right-handed bat and there aren’t a ton of them available.”
The Mariners certainly aren’t just making this call based on his 33 game sample this year. Years ago, Davis was one of the top prospects in the sport. He was a second-round pick of the Cubs in 2018 and reached the major league level in 2021. Baseball America ranked him as the #16 prospect in the league heading into 2022.
Injuries hampered his progress there. As Divish noted in his column, it was originally thought that Davis had a herniated disc in his back in 2022, but surgery found a large blood vessel pushing against his sciatic nerve. The following seasons saw him deal with a core muscle strain, a stress reaction in his back and a broken ankle. With that injury, he only played 229 minor league games over four years from 2022 to 2025, producing a .215/.329/.404 line over that span.
The Cubs added Davis to their 40-man roster in November 2022, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He was never called up to the majors, except for a stint on the injured list in 2024. Davis got a few days of major league service in that one but didn’t appear in a game. He was designated for assignment after that 2024 season and was non-tendered. He spent 2025 with the Yankees on a minor league deal while recovering from ankle surgery in 2024. He returned but missed more time due to a crash on the outside wall, with Divish.
It’s been quite an odyssey but Davis now appears to be healthy and performing to the best of his ability. Based on his numbers and Hollander’s comments, it wouldn’t be surprising if he turns 40 soon. There may not be playing time available in Seattle as soon as they did Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena, Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone, Rob Refsnyder again Connor Joe in their external mixing.
Davis burned two options while on the Cubs’ roster in 2023 and 2024 but still has one remaining. That means the Mariners can give him the 40-man roster spot and keep him in Tacoma for now, unless they want to move someone else off the active roster.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
