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A fun (?) part of rebuilding is getting a chance to see a bunch of rookies get their first tastes of regular playing time. Last year, that went well for Kyle Lewis, Austin Nola, and Shed Long, with varying levels of success hitting fellow rookies Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Dunn, and Dylan Moore.
As the Mariners try their damnedest to climb back into the national conversation, we will likely see them test out even more young players in hopes that they can become the primary colors in a beautiful painting. For now, the canvas is somewhat blank and daunting. But with Jerry Dipoto finally getting total control of his marionettes, at least we get a chance to evaluate his style of player development.
On this list you will find 18 Mariners to put up at least 2.5 bWAR in their rookie season. The top two each snagged Rookie of the Year honors, with four others finishing in the top three of their respective votes. Kazuhiro Sasaki, who won the award in 2000, only had 1.3 bWAR but swindled voters through the power of 37 saves. Finally, you can yell at me about using bWAR instead of FanGraphs, but at the end of the day Play Index makes it really easy to search for this stuff and also I do not care.