WEST SACRAMENTO — Ben Williamson was playing like a man trying to hang onto his job on Monday night, making six athletic plays at third base, nearly all of them remarkable, while going 2-for-3 with a run scored in the Mariners’ 3-1 win over the Athletics at Sutter Health Park.
Luis Castillo might’ve been Seattle’s MVP of the night, twirling seven innings of one-run ball, and Trade Deadline acquisition Josh Naylor had the night’s big highlight at the plate, with a booming 405-foot solo homer in his first at-bat.
But it was the rookie Williamson whose fingerprints had the largest impression on a win that came on a night where both Houston and Texas lost, which allowed the Mariners to gain ground on the Astros team they’re chasing (Seattle is now three games out of first place in the American League West) while creating separation with the Rangers team chasing them.
The Mariners sit a half-game up on Boston for the second Wild Card spot, with Texas a full game off Seattle’s pace.
Third base is the clearest position-player avenue for the Mariners to upgrade ahead of Thursday’s 3 p.m. PT Deadline, and league sources have said that the Mariners view it as a priority even after adding Naylor, who is now 5-for-15 with four stolen bases, including one Monday, since joining the team on Friday in Anaheim.
Yet how the market develops, and who the Mariners land — which remains an “if” at this stage — could impact Williamson’s status for the final two months.
“We don’t want to rob him of his opportunities,” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto told MLB Network Radio on Sunday. “But if there’s a way we can get better and put a more impactful team on the field, we have to at least be aware of what that is.”
Williamson made two putouts in the field and logged assists in four other plays, but it was his second-to-last that potentially saved the game.
With the bases loaded and Matt Brash laboring in the eighth, Williamson made another diving stop on an opposite-field chopper from Tyler Soderstrom, narrowly beating Brent Rooker to the bag for the third out to preserve the Mariners’ two-run lead. Had the ball gotten past him or Rooker reached, Seattle would’ve remained in the jam, clung only to a one-run lead with Brash — who struggled to find the strike zone — needing to get out of it.
Then for an encore in the ninth, Williamson ignited a double play to Dylan Moore, which itself carried difficulty given that Moore was the shortstop and playing on his side of the infield, which set up Andrés Muñoz for a game-sealing K and his 24th save.
Williamson also stopped a potential snowball inning in the sixth, with runners on the corners and one out, when diving to his right and into foul territory on a chopper from Rooker then cutting down the lead runner at second base — from his knees as his chest hit the ground — when it was clear that at least one run would score.
“I ended up Gronk-spiking it and rolling it over there,” Williamson said. “But it worked out.”
At the plate, Williamson yanked a leadoff double into the left-field corner the fifth inning and scored on an RBI single from Cal Raleigh shortly after, sliding headfirst into the plate on an aggressive but worthy send from third-base coach Kristopher Negrón in what wound up being Seattle’s final run. Williamson also legged out an infield single on a chopping grounder to shortstop Max Schuemann in the seventh.
Williamson’s .256 batting average is better than Seattle All-Stars Julio Rodríguez (.253) and Randy Arozarena (.247). But his .293 on-base percentage, .315 slugging percentage and 57.1% ground-ball rate are all well below league average. No moment more clearly encapsulated those limitations than when he hit into an inning-ending double play in the second with the bases loaded.
“Obviously, there’s still room to grow,” Williamson said. “I’m not hitting the ball as hard as I want to, but I’m still working at it and going to try as hard as I can to get better at it.”
Whether his bat eventually bridges the gap to his glove is a longer-term question in his player development, but the totality of his night, especially in the field, underscored what Williamson’s value could be on a post-Deadline roster — even if he’s not as Seattle’s starting third baseman.
“I’m just going to show up and do my best every day,” Williamson said. “And whatever happens, happens from there.”
