Mariners’ Rowdy Tellez doesn’t think he’s interesting – we beg to differ

Seattle Mariners first baseman Rowdy Tellez says he doesn’t live up to his colorful first name, because he “wouldn’t say I’m an interesting person.”

Rowdy Tellez making a decision tough for the Seattle Mariners

Maybe he’s right on the first part, but the second? After hearing his conversation Friday morning with Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, we beg to differ that Tellez isn’t interesting. He’s quite candid and is certainly thoughtful, and he seems to have a pretty good sense of humor as well.

And there’s another thing that makes him pretty interesting: he hits bombs. Tellez hit 35 home runs in 2022 for the Milwaukee Brewers, and even though he’s coming off a down past two seasons, he still had 13 homers in each of those campaigns. If Tellez can tap into that power for the Mariners after joining on a minor league deal, Seattle will no doubt be riveted by him.

Here are a few things that stood out from Tellez’s Brock and Salk visit, including why he chose the Mariners over similar offers from other teams, how he’s aiming for a bounceback season, and his familiarity with his new team.

Full circle?

The 30-year-old Tellez has been making a convincing push to make Seattle’s roster out of spring training, and it will make for a cool moment if he is able to take the field on opening day at T-Mobile Park in a Mariners uniform. That’s because before he was taken in the 30th round of the 2013 MLB Draft out of high school, he made just one trip to a big league stadium before the draft.

“I really like the organization,” he said. “It was actually the only pre-draft workout I ever did out of high school, so I flew up – back then it was Safeco (Field), so I went to Safeco and hit and did all my stuff in front of the (Mariners) brass back in 2013 and kind of fell in love with the stadium.”

There are three big Mariners roster questions right now

The lefty-swinging Tellez could do some damage taking aim at the seats beyond right field at T-Mobile Park, and he said the Mariners offered him a chance this offseason that he didn’t see from other teams.

“When the offers started coming in, I felt like some of them already had their minds made up, and I felt like Seattle gave me a chance to decide my own fate,” he said. “… I just like being up there. So when I got the chance, it was one of those things that was like, that’d be pretty cool to do my only pre-draft workout ever then 12, 13 years later get a chance to go play for them.”

The approach

Tellez was limited to 103 games in 2023, his last with Milwaukee, due to a forearm injury. He said his struggles continued into last season with the Pittsburgh Pirates as he ended up overcompensating.

“I think last year, I started the season with trying to do too much and trying to make up for being hurt in ’23 and showing who I was, and it kind of backfired on me,” he said.

While Tellez finished last season with a .243/.299/.392 slash line for a .691 OPS, he was much better after he shook off a rough first two months. From June through the end of the year, he slashed .277/.330/.478 for an .808 OPS, and those 84 games included 12 homers.

“The middle half of the season, the June through September type of thing, it was more like I was able to be back to who I was and put up numbers and hit,” he continued. “That was just more of keeping it simple and just trying to hit the ball hard. That was it – not trying to hit homers, not trying to do too much but just trying to hit the ball hard. And I think that allowed me to to find the barrel a little bit more consistent.”

The key to Tellez’s approach?

“Just find the barrel, really,” he said. “I got a chance to hit balls hard whenever I find the barrel, and if I can do that more often, I got a better chance.”

He’s been doing that this spring. In 15 Cactus League games, Tellez has a .268/.295/.537 slash (.832 OPS) with thee homers and two doubles.

Odds and ends

Since we alluded to it, here’s what Tellez said about how he doesn’t feel he’s all that rowdy.

“I don’t really fit my name, I’ll give you that. I’m not very rowdy. I’m certainly a very calm kind of person. You know, I like to make jokes and mess around but I don’t get too out of line. I’m kind of a homebody. … I wouldn’t say I’m an interesting person.”

Tellez also discussed the players and coaches he knew before joining the Mariners, and it wasn’t a very long list. Most notable is shortstop J.P. Crawford, who Tellez has known since they were both prep stars in Southern California (Crawford and Tellez are just two months apart in age). He also played with pitcher Trent Thornton with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Then there are a couple of people he crossed paths with while playing for Team Mexico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

“Bobby Magallanes, the (Mariners assistant) hitting coach, was our Team Mexico hitting coach. And I mean, (I played in the WBC with) Randy (Arozarena), but Randy doesn’t speak very good English and I don’t speak very good Spanish so we had to work on things,” he quipped.

Hear the full Brock and Salk conversation with Seattle Mariners first baseman Rowdy Tellez in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post. Catch Brock and Salk from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

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• How Seattle Mariners jerseys will have a new look this season
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• Does Dan Wilson give Seattle Mariners something Servais couldn’t?

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