Three things we learned from Mariners’ Brendan Donovan

Seattle Mariners fans weren’t the only ones patiently waiting throughout the offseason to see if Brendan Donovan would land with the team.

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Donovan was reported as a trade target for the Mariners early in the offseason, but a deal to land the 2025 All-Star from the St. Louis Cardinals didn’t come to fruition until Feb. 2. At that point, Donovan had already been in Florida preparing for the upcoming season, though he was still very aware he was likely to join the list of impact Cardinals players dealt to a new team during the offseason.

“If you would have asked me as soon as the offseason started, I thought that I was gonna be gone like pretty quick. Around the GM meetings and the winter meetings, we kind of got flooded with a lot of information, and I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Donovan told Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Monday. “… As I got into February, I was like, ‘Am I getting moved?’ I wasn’t sure cause it was getting close.

“And then someone within the Cardinals’ organization that we’ve been communicating with was like, hey, we should have a really good understanding after the weekend. And then I got a call on Monday telling me that I was being traded, and then I think it was a pretty big one, so it took a little bit for it to go through. And then I got a call from (Mariners president of baseball operations) Jerry (Dipoto) and it was a done deal.”

Donovan discussed a wide range of topics when he joined Brock and Salk live at M’s camp in Arizona for his first interview on the Seattle Sports airwaves. Here are a few things we learned.

Focus on the hot corner

One of the aspects that makes Donovan a valuable player is the versatility that allows him to man just about any position on the field. The 29 year old has appeared at every position except catcher and center field during his four-year big league career, with the majority of that time coming at second base.

Donovan is expected to open the season at third base for the M’s, which is where he’s been putting in most of his work thus far in spring training.

“Right now, we’ve just been hammering third. I’ve popped over to second a little bit, got some reps there. I think the schedule is to play tomorrow (Tuesday). I think that’ll be at third. That’s where most of our work’s been,” said Donovan, who has yet to make his Cactus League debut for the M’s. “But I still go out in the outfield every once in a while and get some reads. Obviously playing outfield in spring training is tough because you gotta battle elements and things like that, which I think can help you in season.”

What it means to lead off

The Mariners’ plans in the leadoff spot were derailed early last year when Victor Robles fractured his shoulder on the first road trip of the season. He had hit in the No. 1 hole in the first 10 games before his injury.

J.P. Crawford and Randy Arozarena took most of the leadoff at-bats for the rest of the year, with Julio Rodríguez and Dylan Moore also getting some looks there following Robles’ injury. While there are some productive hitters in that group, the M’s struggled to get much out of that spot, with Seattle’s leadoff hitters finishing 23rd in the league in batting average (.237), 24th in on-base percentage (.311) and 27th in OPS (.659).

Donovan has taken more big league at-bats as a leadoff hitter than any other spot in the lineup with 826 of his 2,006 career plate appearance coming there.

“I think there’s so many different approaches that go into it. You set the table, right? You can set the tone,” Donovan said of hitting leadoff. “There’s spots where you feel like you need to kind of get after that first pitch of the game, and there’s spots where you feel like, hey, I need to see a little bit of everything and I need to get some good information for the guys and I need to get some good information for myself and be able to relay that.”

Brendan Donovan fitting right in with Seattle Mariners

Donovan hasn’t been known as a base stealer thus far in his career. He has just 15 career stolen bases on 27 attempts and ranked in the 27th percentile in sprint speed last year, per Baseball Savant. But he’s been working with first base coach Eric Young Jr. on taking an extra 90 feet when he gets the chance. Young’s influence was key in helping the M’s finish tied for third with 161 stolen bases last season.

“I think that’s important,” Donovan said. “Being a leadoff hitter, it’s like, how can I find a way to touch home plate first? So taking an extra 90 feet is important there.”

Donovan is also well aware he doesn’t need to force the situation because of the hitters behind him in the lineup.

“It’s being smart, being a smart baseball player, understanding that if you’re on first base with Cal Raleigh (at the plate), you’re still in scoring position,” Donovan said. “I know that sounds crazy, but he can leave the yard any time, or he can smack a double in the gap and you just gotta be on go. But if the game is giving you something to take an extra 90 feet, I think it’s important and I think that’s the winning mentality that this organization has.”

Transition to T-Mobile Park

The trade to the Mariners means that Donovan will have to deal with the difficult transition of playing half of his games in the pitcher-friendly confines of T-Mobile Park, which grades out as the hardest ballpark to hit in with a 91 park factor (100 is league average), according to Baseball Savant.

But that transition may not be as difficult as it for some. St. Louis’ Busch Stadium has a league-average park factor of 100 and was the fifth-toughest stadium to hit home runs in, ranking behind T-Mobile Park in the latter category. Donovan also said cold weather and dense air was something he had to deal with in St. Louis.

“I picked some people’s brains on going into that,” Donovan said of hitting at T-Mobile Park. “I mean, St. Louis itself is kind of (the) same concept. When it’s cold, it’s tough there. And even in the summer, it’s a sunken-down stadium and it’s really thick air. Some balls will kind of hang up and they just kind of won’t fly. So I’ve always tried to do damage on a line. I feel like a line drive can play in any ballpark, so that’s an area that I’ve really tried to lean into.

“My thought process as a hitter is like if I’m a little tardy, I want to hit it lower. And then if I’m on time, I want to hit it a little higher to the pull side.”

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

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