Dominic Canzone is forcing the Mariners to treat him like more than a platoon bat.
On Tuesday night, with Seattle in another game that felt like it had to be won, Canzone delivered the kind of swing that changes the tone of a lineup. He launched two home runs in the Mariners’ 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, and both came against left-handers.
The first came off Justin Wrobleski and tied the game at 5-5. Later, in the eighth inning, Canzone struck again, this time taking Alex Vesia deep for a two-run homer that pushed Seattle ahead 7-5.
That’s been the story with Canzone lately: production, and plenty of it. He now leads the team with 18 home runs, even though he spent much of the first three months in a left-right platoon with Rob Refsnyder and Victor Robles. The Mariners have clearly decided they can’t keep limiting him, and he’s responded by turning into a regular presence in the lineup.
The numbers back up the breakout. Canzone is hitting .263 with 18 homers, 49 RBIs and an .863 OPS. For a Mariners team that ranks 28th in the league in OPS, he’s been the outlier, the one hitter giving the lineup real middle-of-the-order punch instead of bottom-of-the-order filler.
Jordan Shusterman of Yahoo! Sports pointed out just how unusual Canzone’s recent run has been. He is one of only six players with a 140 wRC+ or better in each of the last two seasons, minimum 250 plate appearances, alongside Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Nick Kurtz and Kyle Schwarber.
That’s a pretty exclusive neighborhood, especially with Judge and Ohtani both coming off MVP seasons last year.
Canzone, now 28, is in his fourth major league season with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Mariners. Seattle got him in the 2023 trade that sent Paul Sewald to Arizona and brought Canzone and Ryan Bliss to the Mariners.
He hit .300 last season with 11 home runs in 243 at-bats, and this year his .333 on-base percentage is better than his career mark of .313.
Seattle gets another shot at the Dodgers on Wednesday night at 7:10 p.m. PT, with Emerson Hancock set to face left-hander Eric Lauer.
The Mariners are 53-55 and sit third in the American League West, but they’re still within reach: 2.5 games behind the Texas Rangers and 1.5 games back of the Cleveland Guardians for the third wild card spot.
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