{"id":296256,"date":"2025-11-17T02:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T02:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/296256\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T02:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T02:55:10","slug":"josh-naylor-mariners-agree-to-5-year-contract-sources-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/296256\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Naylor, Mariners agree to 5-year contract, sources say"},"content":{"rendered":"

First baseman Josh Naylor<\/a> and the Seattle Mariners<\/a> are in agreement on a five-year contract, sources told ESPN on Sunday, reuniting one of the best free agent bats available with the team that made re-signing him its top offseason priority.<\/p>\n

Acquired at the trade deadline by the Mariners, the 28-year-old Naylor made an immediate impact offensively, defensively and on the basepaths, solidifying a position that had been a weakness for Seattle.<\/p>\n

The five-year deal, which is pending a physical, is the first major signing of baseball’s offseason and adds Naylor to a strong Seattle core that helped the Mariners reach Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. He joins AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh<\/a>, star center fielder Julio Rodriguez<\/a> and a deep Mariners rotation as they look to reach the first World Series in franchise history.<\/p>\n

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With his high motor and infectious energy, Naylor immediately found a home in Seattle. In 54 games with the Mariners, Naylor hit .299\/.341\/.490 with nine home runs, 33 RBIs and 19 stolen bases in 19 attempts. A solid-average defender at first base, he helped the Mariners win their first division title since 2001 and then hit .340 with three home runs in 12 postseason games.<\/p>\n

Combined with 93 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> this season, the left-handed Naylor hit .295\/.353\/.462 with 20 home runs, 92 RBIs and a career-high 3.1 WAR. An aggressive hitter with excellent contact skills, Naylor ranked in the top 20 in lowest strikeout rate among qualified batters.<\/p>\n

The most shocking part to Naylor’s season: He was 30-for-32 in stolen-base attempts despite registering as one of the slowest runners in the majors, ranking in just the third percentile in sprint speed. Naylor would often get a walking lead off first base and was perfect in stolen-base attempts with Seattle, even as teams became more aware of his tactics.<\/p>\n

The Diamondbacks had acquired Naylor last offseason from the Cleveland Guardians<\/a>, where Naylor hit 31 home runs in 2024 and made the All-Star team. Over his seven-year career, Naylor has hit .269\/.329\/.447 with 104 home runs, 435 RBIs and 55 steals, appearing in four postseasons.<\/p>\n

Originally drafted in the first round as the No. 12 pick by the Miami Marlins<\/a> in 2015 out of Mississauga, Canada, Naylor is the oldest of three baseball-playing brothers: Bo Naylor<\/a>, drafted No. 29 in 2018, is a catcher with the Guardians, and younger brother, Myles, was the No. 39 pick in 2023 and is a third baseman in the Athletics<\/a>‘ system.<\/p>\n

ESPN’s David Schoenfield contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First baseman Josh Naylor and the Seattle Mariners are in agreement on a five-year contract, sources told ESPN…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-296256","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}