Seattle Mariners: 2018 Player Review Ben Gamel

For the next several weeks, Emerald City Swagger will review the 2018 Seattle Mariners piece by piece. We start with the position players, then move on to the pitchers. Today is left fielder, Ben Gamel.

Seattle Mariners left fielder Ben Gamel started his 2018 season on the disabled list because of a right oblique strain, he sustained during spring training. He went on a rehab assignment to Single-A, Modesto on April 5, then to Triple-A, Tacoma on April 10. The Mariners activated Gamel on April 18.

Though the Mariners went 15-10 in April, after a 1-1 March, they may have had a better start with Gamel platooning in left field with Guillermo Heredia instead of using Ichiro in his place. The future Hall-of-Famer from Japan showed that the best days of his playing career were behind him.

Ichiro batted .205 with no home runs or RBI. Seattle couldn’t get more out of the single’s hitter, who had clearly lost a step on the base paths. At 44 years old, he chose not to retire. Instead, Ichiro took a role with the front office but still spent the season with the ball club.