PEORIA, Ariz. — Baseball can beat you down.
Will Mitch Garver bounce back?
In the fourth inning of an 18-9 loss to the White Sox on Saturday, the 34-year-old veteran crouched in a slightly open stance, his bat resting below his helmet, peering at the pitcher. Chicago’s Nick Nastrini set from the stretch and unfurled a 95-mph fastball along the outer edge.
It was rudely returned.
Garver extended his arms and unleashed a vicious liner, knocking Nastrini’s glove clean off. While Garver bounded up the line, Nastrini abandoned his mitt and scrambled after the baseball — fielding, spinning and firing … to the fence behind first base.
It was a single and a throwing error, not a demolished baseball disappearing onto the berm. Not a scalded double denting the left-field fence. Not a statement or a finish line or an exclamation point.
It was nothing so noteworthy.
Just, perhaps, a start.
“I just wanted to get back to what I’m good at and not try to be good at everything,” Garver said after going 2 for 3 with a pair of line-drive singles. “I got a little carried away with that last year. But (the goal is to) continue to get back to the hitter I am, which is contact-based, little bit of power, being able to drive the ball all over the field and put up good at-bats.”
Mariners fans hope the hitter he is, is not what he just was. After signing a two-year, $24 million deal, Garver’s game came unglued in 2024. The designated hitter and occasional catcher slashed .172/.286/.341 with 15 homers and 51 RBI in 114 games, a stunning regression, while posting a career-high 133 strikeouts and a -0.1 WAR. That’s after slashing .270/.370/.500 with 19 homers and 50 RBI in just 87 games for Texas in 2023.
That corrosion was accompanied by incessant criticism, as Garver shared last July that he’d received death threats on social media. On Saturday, the Albuquerque, N.M., native — once a walk-on at the University of New Mexico — called it “by far the toughest year I’ve had, sports-wise.”
So how do you rebuild on the ashes of a smoldering season?
“It’s very difficult. It’s a really hard sport. It’s unrelenting, and it’ll just beat you down if you let it,” Garver said. “When I reflect on last year, the numbers are poor if you look at average and slugging and OPS and all that stuff. But I still hit 15 homers. I did a lot of good things last year.
“It’s tough to look up at the scoreboard and see the numbers, but I feel like I brought a lot to the pitching staff (as a catcher), and I brought a lot to the team. When you look at it that way, it helps.”
While training this offseason at his home in Colorado, Garver focused on reframing his mentality, as well as subtle mechanical tweaks. He returned to Arizona with a slightly more open stance and lower bat placement, all part of a chess game that never actually ends.
“I don’t really want to be quoted saying stance changes, because between now and opening day it could change,” Garver said. “But getting my hands in a more comfortable spot … whether they’re lower, higher, outside my body, inside my body, whatever it is, all that stuff is fluid. All that stuff takes time to master. It’s getting yourself into a more comfortable position at launch.”
In a small sample size, Garver certainly seems more comfortable. The ninth-year pro has five hits, three runs, a homer and a walk in five games and 12 at-bats. And that dinger — a towering, opposite-field tank with a 103.2-mph exit velocity in a win over the Dodgers on Feb. 25 — is potentially telling, considering Garver didn’t hit a single ball that hard to right field in 2024.
Which doesn’t mean he’ll suddenly recycle the success of 2019 — when Garver posted a .273/.365/.630 slash line with 31 homers and 67 RBI in just 93 games for the Minnesota Twins. But for a team with obvious offensive issues and a void at designated hitter, a bounce-back would be welcome.
He doesn’t need to mash 40 homers and 100 RBI to absolve a season-long slump.
More singles, and less strikeouts, is a satisfactory start.
“He’s used the whole field in his time down here,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He’s got the home run to right against the Dodgers. I really like where his swing is at. The thing I really like about his swing right now is it’s not an overexertion. It’s a nice, free and easy swing that he’s taking. It’s handling the ball really well.
“So I like where he is. I think he likes where he is. It’s been a good match so far, and (we’ll) just continue on that path as we get through spring here.”
Of course, that path could lead right back to peril. For a 34-year-old with a baseball card marred by injuries and inconsistency, your skepticism is justified. A five-game spring sample size is ultimately irrelevant. I can’t promise a stance adjustment or a psychological reset will spark a renaissance.
But in a designated hitter mix that includes Mitch Haniger, Donovan Solano and Jorge Polanco, Garver doesn’t have to be good at everything. Can he be good enough?
“I came into camp really confident,” he said. “I had a good offseason, a relaxing offseason. But I worked my tail off to get where I want to be. So hopefully we can see those things turn over this year and carry it forward.”
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