The ‘animated’ Víctor Robles has been Mariners’ biggest pickup

When the Seattle Mariners acquired Víctor Robles, it didn’t get the kind of attention that their trades for Randy Arozarena, Justin Turner or Yimi García received.

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That’s understandable. After all, Robles was a midseason signing on June 4 that went under the radar considering he had been released by the Washington Nationals just three days before. But Robles was once one of the top prospects in all of baseball, expected to be part of a dynamic duo in Washington’s outfield alongside Juan Soto.

While Soto turned into a superstar, Robles never really took off in DC. Since coming to Seattle, however, the 27 year old’s play has looked like him realizing his potential and quickly earned him fan favorite status.

“What a huge pickup he’s been so far,” said Seattle Sports’ Bob Stelton on Monday’s edition of Wyman and Bob. “He’s had some great moments at the plate, some great moments in the field. … He’s been your biggest acquisition – if we’re just talking about production now (because) he’s been here a lot longer than Turner and Arozarena.”

Entering Tuesday’s 6:50 p.m. series opener against the Detroit Tigers, Robles has played 36 games with the Mariners. In that time, he owns a .346/.411/.523 slash line for a .934 OPS with three homers, six doubles and 10 steals on 10 attempts.

Fun fact: Victor wanted to show @jp_crawford some love today so he used his walk-up music and then he did this… pic.twitter.com/QVvjkgqsJf

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 3, 2024

If that wasn’t enough, he’s also been filling in as the leadoff hitter and center fielder with J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodríguez both on the injured list, and he wowed the home crowd last Friday with a leadoff homer and Sunday with tremendous catches on back-to-back plays.

“Víctor the Villain”

It’s not just Robles’ production for the Mariners that has impressed fans in Seattle. It’s also the style with which he plays.

“He is so animated,” Stelton said. “He’s a guy that if we watched him on another team, especially the Astros, you’d be like, ‘Don’t like that guy at all,’ cause every ball, every strike, he’s got some sort of mannerism. When he got plunked, he threw the bat down and he’s screaming at his own dugout like ‘Let’s go.’ … Everything he does has got some flair to it, whether it’s the catch, whether he’s at the plate or first base.”

As things stand, Robles’ 1.5 fWAR with the Mariners is tied for fifth among batters on the team’s roster, and that’s with him having less than half the amount of games that any of the players ahead of him have played.

“Do you remember what you thought when they signed him?” co-host Dave Wyman said to Stelton. “Like, ‘We’ll see if we can squeeze a little bit out of this guy.'”

Said Stelton: “He wasn’t one of their trade deadline acquisitions. Just a guy they picked up who was cast off from the Washington Nationals and at one point was a top-five prospect in all of baseball. … He’s a guy who kind of washed out. He’s got some experience but he didn’t didn’t live up to the hype of his billing, and we talk about how much value everybody puts on prospects and the bust rate, and he was kind of one of those guys.”

Now he’s a player who fans are coming to see at T-Mobile Park.

“Vic is doing things on the baseball field with some kind of flair right now,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said about Robles during the Mariners’ weekend series against the Phillies. “… Some of the things he does during the game, like, he is entertainment. And at the end of the day, that’s what baseball is. You know, there’s 35-40,000 people here tonight. I think they got entertained, and the Víctor Robleses of the world and the Randy Arozarenas of the world, it’s what people come to see.”

Vibe with Victor 🤘 pic.twitter.com/J1q6TRqblW

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 3, 2024

The Víctor Robles “experience” may best be explained through a story Servais told about the outfielder’s first highlight-reel catch on Sunday. Robles appeared to misread a line drive off the bat of Phillies catcher JT Realmuto, but he corrected enough to reach out to his left and make a sensational stab.

“As soon as the ball went up, I was like, ‘Vic, you’re going the wrong way,'” Servais quipped. “I could see that ball was coming the other way, and he made some kind of athletic adjustment to it. Credit to him, he’s playing with all kinds of energy and fun, passion. You can throw all kinds of adjectives on it. He’s fun to watch.

“I don’t know how he caught that ball. I really don’t. And I went and asked him that and he said, ‘Skip, I had it all the way.’ Like, ‘Stay right there, Vic. We got you right where we need you.’ So he’s been huge for us.”

Listen to the full Wyman and Bob discussion about Mariners outfielder Víctor Robles in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post. Catch Wyman and Bob live weekday afternoons beginning at 2 p.m. on Seattle Sports.

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