What is Jorge Polanco’s role now with the Seattle Mariners?

Jorge Polanco has been one of the best hitters in baseball early on this season, but he hasn’t been able to try to be much more for the Seattle Mariners.

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Not only was Polanco coming off offseason surgery to repair a knee issue that held him down in 2024, but a core injury limited the switch-hitting infielder for basically all of April to serving as either the designated hitter or a pinch-hitter, and only swinging from the left side.

The 31-year-old Polanco made his return both to the field and to hitting right-handed on Tuesday, playing second base against a left-handed starting pitcher for the Athletics. But is that the plan going forward?

Mariners insider Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports shared her insight Friday when she joined Bump and Stacy.

“I think he’s somebody that you can use at second base. He’s not a priority at second base, (but) his bat in the lineup is,” Drayer said. “I think that if they have to (play Polanco at second base), if they have a matchup where they want to get somebody else into that DH spot, they’re going to do that.”

Polanco, who was Seattle’s starting second baseman last year, actually entered 2025 as the team’s primary third baseman – a position he isn’t nearly as familiar with. That didn’t last long, however, due to the soreness he started feeling in the first week of the season in his side. And even in spring training, the Mariners didn’t get Polanco all that much action as third, taking it slow due to him coming off the knee surgery.

With rookie Ben Williamson currently starting at third base for the M’s, it appears Polanco will be at second if he’s in the field. The strength of Polanco’s surgically repaired knee seems to be more of a consideration than the core injury when it comes to making plays at second, but Drayer is confident that if that becomes an issue, he won’t let it linger.

“To be honest with you, Polanco would be the first one to take himself out if that’s the case. He’s smart, he’s a veteran, he doesn’t want to hurt the team,” she said. “If his knee is bothering him, he knows that he shouldn’t be out there and he knows that he can DH. So I think that he’ll be upfront and honest with them where he’s at.

“I don’t think it’s a situation where there could be more damage, but it very well may have been that he was doing some things that he hasn’t done since the surgery and so (Polanco playing in the field Tuesday) did look a little bit off. I’m interested to see where that goes. So far, so good, but regardless, you’ve got other options (at second base). And I think that it is going to be basically if that’s where you need to have him in order to help the offense and get that bat in (the lineup), that’s what we’ll see.”

Follow Mariners insider Shannon Drayer on social media at this link. Catch Bump and Stacy from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

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