Mariners infielder Shawn O’Malley relishing time in the big leagues

Your shower shoes have fungus on ’em. You’ll never make it to the Bigs with fungus on your shower shoes. Think classy, you’ll be classy. If you win 20 in the Show, you can let the fungus grow back on your shower shoes and the press will think you’re colorful. Until you win 20 in the Show however, it means you’re a slob. – Crash Davis, in “Bull Durham”

The difference between Triple-A and the Big Leagues are night and day, both on the field and off. The Seattle Mariners have had a revolving door with the minors at shortstop, especially since starter Ketel Marte was placed on the 15-day disabled list over the weekend.

Utility player Shawn O’Malley was the first one called up to replace reserve shortstop Luis Sardinas and hasn’t let go. But O’Malley told “Danny, Dave and Moore” Wednesday that he knows what it’s like to make the huge transition to the Big Show and is relishing the opportunity.

“It’s nice to be able to fly out right after a game and have pretty decent meals made for you,” he said. “In Triple-A, you’re eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches seven days a week and awful travel; you have connecting flights. You get in at 1 or 2 in the afternoon and you’re playing a 5:30 or 6 o’ clock game that night so your body is not recovered as much, which can be pretty taxing on you. Plus you don’t get many off-days down there. The travel here is remarkable and they do a really good job here of taking care of their players.”

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O’Malley, who is a Tri-Cities native, debuted in the majors in 2014 and had another taste of the majors last year. While the 28-year-old said some players are satisfied with simply making it to the majors at all, he has used his brief call-ups as motivation. He said the key is building a mindset: that major league pitchers aren’t unhittable.

“You’ve just got to take that out of your head,” he said. “They all make mistakes. They all leave balls out over the plate. They just don’t make those errors as much up here as they do in Triple-A.”

O’Malley saw great success early this season in the minors, with .317/.412/.439 slash line in 25 games at Triple-A. Since being summoned to the majors on May 15, the numbers haven’t been as gaudy, with his batting average dipping to .176 and no walks in 17 plate appearances.

Still, he stuck around through Tuesday’s transaction that pulled Sardinas back to Seattle and dropped SS Chris Taylor to the minors. The 25-year-old Taylor suffered one forgettable game that included two errors and a pair of strikeouts, one of which came during a crucial bases-loaded moment. Manager Scott Servais said he hated to pull the plug on Taylor after one poor start but O’Malley says it’s the nature of the business. His advice to Taylor was to keep his head up and believes the talented shortstop will have a long future in the big leagues.

“People only got to see a small amount of Chris in that short span, but I got to play with him a lot,” O’Malley said. “He is a big-league shortstop; not a doubt in my mind. He is an unreal athlete, he’s a great hitter and a really good defender. It was just unfortunate. Everyone has one of those nights every once in a while and unfortunately it gets put under a microscope sometimes.

“(Taylor will) be fine,” O’Malley added. “He’s got a short-term memory. It’s just like baseball. You play 162 a year, you’re going to have nights like that … I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him again shortly.”

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