Mariners Notebook: Brock Rodden’s impressive debut; new pitcher claimed

If you didn’t know the name Brock Rodden before this week, you should now.

The Seattle Mariners rookie starred in his MLB debut Friday night, delivering his first big league hit and driving in two important runs late in the game in Houston.

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Rodden’s performance would have been one of the more memorable debuts in team history had the M’s stuck the landing.

With two runners on and the Mariners trailing by one run in the eighth inning, Rodden yanked a ground-rule double into the right field corner at Daikin Park for his first MLB hit, bringing home pinch-runner Weston Wilson to knot things up at 5-5.

“It was really special,” Rodden said after Friday’s game of the hit. “Just running down the line, I was just hoping it would stay fair. It was getting close to hooking foul, so just grateful that it stayed fair.”

Rodden wasn’t done making a dent in his debut.

After Victor Robles hit an RBI triple for his third hit of the game to give Seattle a 6-5 lead in the 10th inning, Rodden drove a fly ball to Astros left fielder Taylor Trammell to plate Robles for an insurance run.

Unfortunately, the Mariners would end up needing more insurance than that, as the AL West-leading Astros struck for five runs in the bottom of the 10th, the last three of which came on Christian Walker’s crushing walk-off homer that delivered a 10-7 victory for Houston.

While the game end on a sour note for the struggling Mariners, it still had some special moments that Rodden will remember fondly.

“It was unbelievable. I had so much fun out there,” Rodden said of making his MLB debut. “I was definitely a little nervous at first, but after a few pitches went in the zone, I was back to playing baseball like always.”

Rodden, a 2023 fifth-round MLB Draft pick by Seattle out of Wichita State, is ranked the Mariners’ No. 19 prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 18 by Baseball America. Though the 5-foot-7 switch-hitter hasn’t garnered much attention compared to the headliners of Seattle’s stocked farm system, he’s been a solid performer in his minor league career. He has a .270/.349/.451 slash line for an .800 OPS in 298 games over four seasons in the minors, and he hit .262 with 19 home runs and a .841 OPS in 92 games for Triple-A Tacoma this year.

Rodden will get a chance to keep adding to his stellar start in the big leagues on Saturday, as he is once again playing shortstop and hitting ninth in the order for the M’s in the 4:10 p.m. game in Houston.

Today's lineup for Game 2 in Houston. #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/wk96ftZsJj

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 15, 2026

M’s notes

• The Mariners announced Saturday they have claimed right-handed pitcher Troy Watson off waivers from the Detroit Tigers. Watson, 29, will report to Triple-A Tacoma. His addition makes Seattle’s 40-man roster full. Watson was a 15th-round MLB Draft pick out of Northern Colorado by the Blue Jays in 2018. This season in Triple-A, he is 4-3 with a 2.89 ERA and one save in 21 games, including 12 starts.

• The Mariners have shaken up their lineup a bit for the middle game of the series with the Astros. Third baseman Brendan Donovan will hit in the leadoff spot for the first time since his return from the injured list last week. The 29-year-old Donovan, who missed nearly three months of action with a left groin muscle strain, is just 5 for 29 (.172) since being activated from the IL, dropping his season slash line to .248/.344/.389 for a .733 OPS in 33 games.

• Recently acquired outfielder Taylor Ward is out of the lineup for the third straight day. He was dealing with quad tightness when he was held out for Thursday’s series finale in New York, per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times.

• Mariners Radio Network coverage of Saturday’s game will be live on the Seattle Sports app as always, but the terrestrial radio broadcast will be on 770 AM in the Seattle area due to coverage starting at the same time as that for the Seahawks’ first preseason game. The broadcast will start at 3 p.m. with the pregame show. Click here for more details.

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• Seattle Mariners claim former UW Huskies catcher off waivers

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