No Drama: J.P. Crawford, calm in the Mariners’ storm

All season long, the Seattle Mariners have struggled to find the consistency that could set them on the path to achieving the goals they were not shy about expressing before the season began.

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The path to date has yet to smooth out, the bumps in the road painful and frustrating – perhaps none more than Game 50 on Tuesday night when the piggyback plans went awry. The displeasure could be heard in the voices of the fans and seen on the faces of the players after. The lead-up, the execution and the result had brewed up one big Mariners storm that night.

The next morning, J.P. Crawford brought the calm, quietly walking out to the field to take infield work – at third base. To his left was Colt Emerson, the heir apparent to Crawford’s regular position: shortstop.

The idea was Crawford’s, something he had recently discussed with his agent and then took to manager Dan Wilson on Sunday. The Mariners didn’t ask Crawford to consider a move or take work at third base Wednesday morning, just as they didn’t ask him to take work there in spring training. It has been firmly established that shortstop is Crawford’s position. It is not, however, his identity, as we learned Wednesday.

His identity is Mariner.

“I mean, it just came up in a thought in my head,” Crawford said Wednesday of offering to try out third base. “I want to be a Mariner for life and I think that’s the best way to do it. And, you know, just always being open to helping the team win.”

Making good on a promise

While he has brought the calm, Crawford has brought the leadership, as well. It is also an important part of his identity and something he expressed quite early in his Mariners career.

“Knowing that I am going to be that guy that people come up to, I’m ready for the role,” Crawford said in a pregame show interview during the final week of the 2021 season, his third with Seattle. “I’m ready to lead. This is my team. I’m ready to put everybody on my back and get to work, keep going the way we are.”

Crawford’s leadership has been important to this team and has gone well beyond leading by example. His active leadership has included taking young infielders under his wing, something he feels strongly about.

“Yeah, it means everything,” he said Wednesday. “When I came up, I really didn’t have anyone to show me the ropes until I got over here. And Dee (Strange-Gordon) and Kyle Seager took me under their wing, and I made a promise to myself to be like them.”

Strange-Gordon and Seager helped raise a good one, and J.P. perhaps is doing the same now. Any thoughts that it would be an uncomfortable situation bringing up Emerson were just plain wrong. That is not who J.P. Crawford is, and that is not drama the Mariners have to worry about.

Where this experiment goes remains to be seen. Crawford called taking work at third base Wednesday fun and pointed out he came up as a third baseman with the Phillies after being drafted in the first round in 2013.

If it helps the team, he is all on board.

“The goal here is to win a World Series and stay here as long as I can,” he said. “That’s the only two things on my mind.”

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