{"id":655626,"date":"2026-05-21T02:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T02:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655626\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T02:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T02:49:09","slug":"j-p-crawford-getting-work-at-third-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655626\/","title":{"rendered":"J.P. Crawford Getting Work At Third Base"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford<\/a> has been getting work at the hot corner and was taking grounders there prior to today\u2019s game. Daniel Kramer of MLB.com<\/a> was among those to report that the idea was actually brought up by Crawford, who approached manager Dan Wilson about the possibility this weekend. Crawford\u2019s agent subsequently ran it by general manager Justin Hollander. All parties seem to be on board with seeing what it might look like.<\/p>\n

Crawford\u2019s openness to sliding off shortstop comes in conjunction with top prospect Colt Emerson<\/a> reaching the majors. Seattle inked the 20-year-old to a record-setting eight-year, $95MM contract before he took a single plate appearance in the majors. Emerson made his big league debut earlier this week and promptly deposited a ball over the right field fence, making his first big league hit a three-run big fly. The 2023 first-rounder (No. 22 overall) is currently the third-ranked prospect in the entire game, per Baseball America<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Emerson has played both third base and shortstop in his first three big league games, but he\u2019s spent the overwhelming majority of his career at shortstop (2074 innings, compared to 175 at third base). The Mariners surely envision him as their shortstop of the future \u2014 particularly with Crawford set to become a free agent at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

From Crawford\u2019s vantage point, the experiment makes good sense. It\u2019s a team-first approach in the short term, allowing Emerson to perhaps claim the spot the Mariners hope him to occupy well into the 2030s, but it also expands his own defensive versatility ahead of his first trip to the open market. Crawford\u2019s defensive grades have declined in recent years, particularly over the past season-plus. If he can grade out more effectively at the hot corner, that\u2019ll only make him more appealing while Emerson acclimates to the majors at his natural position.<\/p>\n

Third base isn\u2019t entirely new for Crawford, but it\u2019s been quite some time since he logged any game action there. He has 174 innings at the position in his career, all coming in 2017-18 with the Phillies \u2014 the team that originally drafted him. He has another 78 minor league innings at the position.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s some current opportunity to test things out, a more permanent move to third base might not be a possibility for Crawford just yet. The Mariners placed Brendan Donovan<\/a> on the 10-day IL due to a groin strain this week. He\u2019ll be shut down entirely for two to three weeks before resuming baseball activity. It doesn\u2019t seem he\u2019s ticketed for an especially long-term absence.<\/p>\n

A healthy Donovan could slot right back in at third base, but he\u2019s also comfortable playing second base and the outfield corners. Cole Young<\/a> has been fine at second base but hasn\u2019t exactly seized the position with a dominant performance. Outfield\/DH options like Dominic Canzone<\/a> and Luke Raley<\/a> have quality season-long numbers but have begun to cool after blistering starts to the 2026 campaign. Time will tell how all of them are faring in a few weeks, but there are certainly scenarios where Donovan factors in at a position other than third base \u2014 the only position he\u2019s played so far in 2026.<\/p>\n

Crawford, 31, is in the final season of a five-year, $51MM contract. He missed time early on due to a shoulder injury and has been slowed recently by a triceps issue that doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019ll send him to the injured list. He was originally slated to play shortstop and lead off for Seattle, but the Mariners scratched him a couple hours before first pitch. He\u2019s turned in a tepid .210 batting average but has ridden a career-best 16.5% walk rate to a big .358 on-base percentage.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s uncommonly low average is due primarily to a .220 average on balls in play that\u2019s about 70 points shy of league average and Crawford\u2019s own career .293 mark. He\u2019s actually striking out less than ever (and less often than he walks), at a 15.9% rate. Crawford\u2019s batted-ball metrics and bat speed are right in line with his typical levels. Statcast credits him for an expected .256 batting average and .418 slugging percentage, suggesting better days at the plate might not be all that far off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford has been getting work at the hot corner and was taking grounders there prior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[163637,2010,99],"class_list":["post-655626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-colt-emerson","tag-j-p-crawford","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655626","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=655626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}