Ryan Bliss sidelined with left bicep tear as Mariners injury woes continue
By Jeffrey Nooney, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Our Seattle Mariners got more bad injury news after Tuesday Night’s extra inning loss to the Houston Astros. As if losing a game 2-1 in 12 innings where the offense goes 1-19 with runners in scoring position wasn’t bad enough, infielder Ryan Bliss injured himself during the game and will miss a significant amount of the season. During his first at bat of the night, Ryan swung and missed to strikeout. On his back swing, his bat hit Astros catcher Yainer Diaz, and Bliss tore his left biceps muscle. The Burbank, California native finished the game even with the injury, and was able to still smack a double and make a run saving play in the 11th inning of the ballgame.
Seattle Mariners infielder Ryan Bliss throughout the teams opening day contest against the Athletics on March 27th, 2025 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Kevin Ng for Circling Seattle Sports)
Bliss will miss up to five months after an MRI revealed a significant tear in his left bicep. He will have surgery today, which will take place at the University of Washington Medical Center as performed by Mariners Orthopedic Physician Dr. Albert Gee. Bliss is expected to make a full recovery. In his 11 games played on the season, Bliss was slashing .200/.282/.314/.596 with an OPS+ of 83, 17% below league average. He hit his only home run of the season during Monday night’s 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros, and seemed to only be getting more comfortable with playing second base as he’d won the position with a strong Spring Training.
“It certainly is a real tough break for Ryan. He’s had a nice start to his season, to suffer something like that is really difficult. Its always difficult to lose a guy like that long term. We are hoping his surgery goes well and that he’s able to bounce back as quickly as possible. We know its going to be quite lengthy.”
With injuries like this, the first question that comes to mind is how Seattle will replace Bliss at second. Infielder Leo Rivas was called up to take Bliss’ place on the roster from AAA Tacoma. Rivas debuted for the Mariners last season and played quite well in his 43 games for the Mariners. Leo slashed .233/.333/.274/.607 with an OPS+ of 85 and played shortstop, second base, third base and even was the designated hitter for a game as he proved to be perfectly fine as an option off the bench. Rivas profiles as a utility player, just like Dylan Moore and Miles Mastrobuoni, but he will likely play second base most of the time.
Cole Young, the Mariners third ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline, is currently playing in his first season at the AAA level with the Tacoma Rainiers. Cole has struggled so far in AAA, where he is slashing .178/.302/.267/.569 with nine strikeouts in 53 plate appearances. He is still just 21 years old, so the Mariners are likely not to rush him to the Majors quite yet unless they want to surprise everyone and get him here soon to make his big league debut. Another option for an infield spot is Ben Williamson, who is also in Tacoma. Williamson, a second round pick of the Mariners in the 2023 MLB Draft, is off to a good start at the plate this season and could be the future of the third base position going forward for Seattle. He is slashing .286/.314/.347/.661 in his 51 plate appearances. Ben has not showed a lot of power yet in his minor league career, hitting just four home runs in the minors so far. He has a solid hit tool and can play an above average third base, but the lack of power is concerning at this point. While he has only struck out six times to start the year, he has walked just one time so far. The Mariners would like to see him get on base more before calling him up. If they were to shock people and call up Williamson, it would allow for Dylan Moore and Miles Mastrobuoni, both set to take solid time at third base with Jorge Polanco combatting “side soreness,” to take some time at second base.
With limited options in the minor league system, the Mariners front office could look to other organizations for some infield help. MLB Veterans who may not have made their big club out of Spring sign minor league deals with opt-out clauses if they do not get called up. Steve Adams from MLB Trade Rumors gave a small list of players who fit what the Mariners could be looking for, which includes Christian Arroyo (Phillies), Scott Kingery (Angels), Harold Castro (Royals), Nick Gordon (Royals) and old friend Jake Lamb (Giants) as those named in his article. Nick Gordon, brother of former Mariner Dee Strange-Gordon, was acquired by the Royals from the Baltimore Orioles eight days ago. Free Agent J.D. Martinez has been a popular name linked to the Mariners on social media considering Seattle’s offensive woes as an option to bring onboard, but Adam Jude of the Seattle Times tweeted that “Thats not happening.” Martinez wouldn’t answer any questions in the Seattle infield, but he’d surely add some offensive punch to an otherwise limp attack so far.
The Mariners have had their (un)fair share of injuries already this season. Outfielder Victor Robles will miss at least 12 weeks with a fracture in his left shoulder after he dislocated it on a heroic catch down in San Francisco last week, infielder Jorge Polanco has had tightness in his side which has kept him from swinging his bat from the right side of the plate, and is limited to designated hitting for the time being. That means that Leo Rivas, Dylan Moore and Miles Mastrobuoni are playing more than expected with their utility roles proving valuable already early into the 2025 campaign. I would expect the Mariners to make some sort of move in the near future, but more than likely not a “franchise altering” type more. Those are typically done closer to the trade deadline, and the Mariners may want to see what they have internally before looking outside the organization right now.
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