The Seattle Mariners have a pair of sneaky All-Star candidates

Jul 3, 2025, 11:46 AM | Updated: 11:47 am

Editor, Seattle Sports

The Seattle Mariners already have one player set to represent them on the American League roster in the All-Star Game on July 15 in Atlanta: catcher Cal Raleigh, who will be the first M’s player to start a midsummer classic in 10 years and has also entered the Home Run Derby field.

Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh wins AL Player of the Month for June

Additionally, the M’s have a pair of pitchers who should at least get strong consideration before the full rosters are announced on Sunday: closer Andrés Muñoz (1.13 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 19 saves), who is primed to be an All-Star for a second straight year, and Bryan Woo, who has the 12th-best ERA (2.93), sixth-best WHIP (0.97) and 11th-best opponent batting average (.215) among qualified AL starting pitchers.

Shortstop J.P. Crawford (.387 on-base percentage) and center fielder Julio Rodríguez (23rd in AL with 2.5 fWAR) are a couple other names who have come up as fringe All-Star candidates this year.

But with the full All-Star announcement now just a few days away, there are suddenly a pair of Mariners who have emerged as sneaky candidates to be All-Stars.

It’s Randy Time

First, we’ve got left fielder Randy Arozarena. He’s caught fire at the plate recently, to the point that he’s an early AL Player of the Week candidate thanks to an incredible series he’s currently having. In three games against the Kansas City Royals, Arozarena is 6 for 12 (.500 average) with four home runs, seven RBIs and just one strikeout.

In his last 24 games, Arozarena is hitting .348 with a .426 on-base, .609 slugging and 1.035 OPS. He also has five homers, nine doubles, 15 RBIs, 20 runs, and six stolen bases on seven attempts over that stretch.

On June 6, the day before his hot streak began, Arozarena had a weak slash line of .211/.335/.367 for a .702 OPS. Entering play Thursday, he’s at .252/.361/.439 for an .800 OPS with 12 homers, 20 doubles, 40 RBIs and 15 steals on 16 attempts this season.

Is Arozarena a true candidate to be an All-Star for the second time in his career? Well, among qualified AL outfielders, he ranks second in steals, fourth in on-base, 11th in slugging, eighth in OPS, and is tied for 13th in homers. And among all AL players, he’s 25th in fWAR with 2.3. He’s at least in the conversation to be an injury replacement, and could even find his way onto the initial AL roster with another big game or two this week.

Nasty out of the ‘pen

The second player is a bit more of a longshot, but still deserves to have his name at least mentioned: reliever Matt Brash.

The hard-throwing Canadian right-hander didn’t allow an earned run until Wednesday, which was his 20th appearance of the season.

On the year, Brash has a 0.49 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, .200 opponent average, 19 strikeouts to six walks, eight holds and a save.

What hurts Brash the most is that he missed the first month of the year as he worked his way back from Tommy John surgery that kept him out of action for all of 2024. So impressive as he’s been, he looks to be just a bit short of having enough to point to for an invite to Atlanta.

OK, but what makes him worthy of at least some All-Star consideration despite somewhat limited time on the mound? Only two other AL relievers have a lower ERA than Brash with more appearances: Toronto’s Brayden Fisher (0.00 ERA in 21 outings) and Minnesota’s Danny Coulombe (0.42 ERA in 29 outings).

Though it’s not likely, it would be nice for Seattle’s bullpen to receive a little extra recognition besides just Muñoz, even if it’s not Brash. You could also point to Eduard Bazardo (2.84 ERA, 1.08 WHIP in 38 appearances) and Gabe Speier (2.73 ERA, 0.97 WHIP in 38 appearances), who have been key for a Mariners ‘pen that since June 1 leads the AL in opponent average (1.89) and ranks third in both ERA (3.24) and WHIP (1.12).

The full All-Star Game rosters will be announced at 2 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.