TORONTO – It is happening every game now, left-handed and right-handed, at home and on the road. When the Seattle Mariners take the lead for good this October, Jorge Polanco makes it happen.
“He’s been carrying this lineup this postseason,” catcher Cal Raleigh said after Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, with the Mariners halfway to a pennant. “Huge, huge bat in the middle of the order.”
A guy who smashes 60 home runs, as Raleigh did this season – that’s a huge, huge bat. A 12-year veteran who hit .213 last year and returned to Seattle for a steep discount? That’s not your typical huge, huge bat.
These days, though, it sounds about right. Polanco’s three-run homer broke a tie in the fifth inning Monday, propelling Seattle to a 10-3 thrashing of the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. It’s his third game in a row with the Mariners’ go-ahead hit, the kind of run that makes a reputation.
On Sunday, Polanco’s sixth-inning single broke a 1-1 tie as Seattle stole the series opener. In Friday’s ALDS clincher, he shook the ground under T-Mobile Park with a game-winning hit in the 15th inning. Three games before that, Polanco homered twice off Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, helping the Mariners win that night, too.
“I love those situations,” Polanco said. “I don’t know what to say, man. I’m clutch, but I’m just trying to keep it simple.”
He trusts his teammates in the big moments, too, Polanco added. He’s not about to steal Reggie Jackson’s nickname.
“I think everybody likes it, to be in those situations, because that’s what we play for, to be in those spots,” he said. “That’s what we dream about. It just happened to be me doing it, but we all like it.”
Polanco, 32, dreamed those dreams in the Dominican Republic, watching baseball with his grandfather and rooting especially for Robinson Canó, another second baseman from his hometown, San Pedro de Macoris.
Like Canó, Polanco served an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs in 2018, when he played for the Minnesota Twins. But Polanco’s best seasons have come since then – an All-Star campaign in 2019, and a 33-homer outburst in 2021.
Polanco played 12 postseason games for the Twins, hitting .209. He’s batting just .258 in these playoffs, but his uncanny timing has brought the spotlight to a steady veteran who had never played this deep into October.
“He’s doing what he’s always done really well, which is pull the ball,” said Seattle’s Mitch Garver, who tripled in Game 2 and played five seasons with Polanco in Minnesota. “He’s always been a really good pull hitter from both sides of the plate. That’s the advantage of being a switch-hitter, but his swing has always been short. It’s been really tight. I think he’s really honed in on that this year.”
Polanco hit .265 this season with 26 homers, 78 runs batted in and an .821 OPS. It’s the kind of production Seattle hoped for last season, after trading four players to the Twins to get him. But Polanco slumped to .213/.296/.355, missing a month with a hamstring strain and struggling to put weight on his left knee. He underwent surgery last October to repair a torn patella tendon.
The Mariners knew that wasn’t the real Polanco last season. But they didn’t know if they’d have a chance to see the better version. With a limited offseason budget, they had to hope Polanco picked them again in free agency.
“One of the benefits you have when it’s your own player is you truly understand what they’re dealing with from a medical perspective in a way that can’t come to life when you’re just reading it on paper,” Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said.
“So knowing that he was getting shots in his knees and really grinding away through the season last year did give us some insight. We had the same uncertainty that everybody else had on how he would come back this year after the surgery, but we’re so appreciative that he (returned) when it was a real threat that he would pick the Yankees or the Astros or the other teams he was talking to.”
Retaining Polanco was the biggest move in a quiet winter for the Mariners, who did not overwhelm him with their contract: one year, $7.75 million. To find Polanco’s deal on the list of free-agent payouts for last year’s class, you’ll sift through dozens and dozens of names – backup catchers, middle relievers, platoon outfielders – before you find his.
The injury was an obvious risk, but getting a solid everyday player for less than, say, Gary Sánchez, was a steal. The only other free agent who signed for the same terms as Polanco was Tigers reliever Tommy Kahnle – the pitcher who gave up his ALDS-clinching single.
For Polanco, who had signed with Minnesota the week he turned 16 and never left until the trade, starting over elsewhere had little appeal. He liked it in Seattle and was grateful for another chance.
“My teammates, the people here, the staff, they’re good people,” Polanco said. “My teammates are good players, and I just wanted to be back here. I spent a year here hurt. My teammates always supported me, they treated me really good and I appreciated that.”
As the Mariners contended until the final week last season, Polanco pushed himself through 469 plate appearances, the fourth most on the team, and more than 900 innings at second base. But teammates knew he was badly compromised.
“If you watched the games, how they looked last year – his swings, how he was running, all those things – you could tell a lot,” said Julio Rodríguez, who drove a three-run homer in the first inning Monday. “When he was hitting the bases, when he was playing innings at second base and all that, you could tell.”
Now Polanco moves better and hits the way he used to, part of a lineup that startles you with its depth, considering all the holes it used to have. The Mariners patched most of them by trading for Randy Arozarena last season and Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez this July.
With Polanco, they patched with the same guy – just a very different version, one who was eager to sign up for more.
“I honestly didn’t know if he’d be like, ‘I’m just not coming back no matter what, I’m going to go try it somewhere else,’” Hollander said. “And instead I think he really did value the way he was treated in our environment. Super-thrilled that he trusted us enough to choose us – and what he’s doing is incredible.”
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