The impact Justin Turner can provide Mariners goes beyond his bat

At this point in his career, recently acquired Seattle Mariners first baseman/designated hitter Justin Turner knows he can contribute with more than just his play on the field.

The Seattle Mariners’ No. 1 prospect has landed in Everett

The 39-year-old veteran said as much when he joined the team in Boston last week.

“Just hopefully a calming voice, someone that guys are comfortable with or get comfortable with, that they can come to with any questions or any situations, and just try to help them out the best I can,” Turner said when asked about what he could bring to a young team pushing for the playoffs.

“I’ve been through just about everything you can go through as a player. I’ve been traded now twice. I’ve been designated for assignment. I’ve been non-tendered, bouncing out of a few organizations. So I’ve seen a lot of stuff.”

It took less than a week for a teammate to mention Turner as someone who’s had a positive effect in helping him turn things around. However, it wasn’t one of the younger players on the team. It was one of the oldest in 33-year-old Mitch Haniger.

“For me, talking with Turner, he’s a big help for me as a guy whose swing I studied for a while,” Haniger told Seattle Sports’ Mariners insider Shannon Drayer in a postgame interview just moments after his walk-off walk against the Phillies on Saturday. “So he’s a guy I’ve been leaning on and asking a lot of questions, and it’s really good to have in our clubhouse.”

After hearing what Haniger had to say about Turner, Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk had a discussion Monday about the impact Turner could make down the stretch for the M’s.

“He’s legitimately providing some of these guys with the been-there, done-that father figure that they seemed to be lacking the last couple of years,” Salk said.

That’s a role akin to what Carlos Santana played for the team in 2022 when the Mariners broke a 21-year playoff drought. He didn’t post stats that jumped off the page, hitting just .192 while providing enough power and on-base skills to be about league average with a 101 OPS+.

What Santana did provide was timely hitting and leadership, which included a close relationship with standout center fielder Julio Rodríguez.

Turner has already shown some of the timely hitting aspect, too. His first at-bat as a Mariner resulted in a two-out RBI single, and he blasted a grand slam in his home debut at T-Mobile Park in a 10-2 win Friday over the National League-leading Philadelphia Phillies.

“If he can just impact one guy and that one guy is Mitch Haniger, that’s a really good deal,” Huard said. “Not only for what we’ve talked about – the commitment you made to Mitch for this season and for next year – but if you can get the Mitch Haniger that we have seen and saw at the start of this year, he can carry a team for seven to 10 days himself. If Justin can bring that out of him, the very best out of him – and we’ve seen his best since the All-Star break both in the field and in the batter’s box – that would be a really good deal.”

Another veteran in need of help

Hearing Haniger credit his new teammate so quickly also had Salk and Huard wondering if Turner could help another struggling veteran with the same first name, catcher Mitch Garver.

It’s been a very tough year for Garver offensively after signing a two-year, $24 million deal to be the team’s primary designated hitter in the offseason. Garver’s struggles have led to his role diminishing. The team tried to get a boost by moving him into a role as backup catcher, with hopes that contributing in other ways than offense could help create a spark.

The 33-year-old Garver recently shared some of the vitriol he has received online, including death threats sent to him and his family.

“While he is out there and he does looks stoic, he doesn’t look emotional, that doesn’t mean he’s not,” Salk said. “It means that’s the way to play baseball for a lot of people, especially American-born players who are taught from a pretty early age to play this game very stoically. I don’t know what’s going to unlock Mitch Garver. Clearly, there’s a swing problem. Clearly, there’s something going on emotionally…

“He’s been a pretty good hitter in the past. I think that you’ve got to try to find a way, whether it’s working with Justin Turner or what (manager) Scott (Servais) can do or whoever it is, you can help get Mitch Garver back. Yes, it’s comforting to be able to play without him for a game or two when you need to. It would be really nice if they could actually get the real Mitch Garver here.”

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

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• M’s Insider: Adjustments pay off for surging Mitch Haniger
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