Ryan Bliss has spent June making the Mariners think twice.
After a rough start to the 2026 season - he hit .162 in April and didn’t give Seattle much reason to keep waiting - Bliss has turned Tacoma into a much louder argument for himself. In June, he hit .316/.349/.461 with 24 hits, one home run, nine RBI, six doubles, a triple and seven stolen bases. That’s real production, the kind that shows up in every part of the game: contact, extra bases and pressure on the run.
Seattle gave him a short look in Baltimore against the Orioles, then sent him back down. That kind of move is easy to understand from a roster standpoint.
The big-league club has moving parts, injuries can shuffle everything, and not every transaction is a referendum on the player. But Bliss is doing what you want a player to do after a demotion - forcing the issue.
The problem for the Mariners is that there’s not a clean lane waiting for him.
Cole Young is already part of the team’s infield plans, and the keystone belongs to him. That matters here because Bliss is a second baseman, and that’s where the logjam starts. He brings speed, athleticism and a right-handed bat that can create some chaos, but Seattle would have to move Young somewhere else to make room, and that just creates a new puzzle.
Bliss is useful. He’s not empty depth.
He’s also not the kind of versatile piece who can bounce around the diamond and make the whole thing simple. So the Mariners are left with a player who is helping himself, while also running into one of the organization’s better young talents.
That’s why his value may be as much about protection as opportunity. Bliss looks like a strong backup plan for Young, and over the course of a 162-game season, that matters.
Things change. Injuries happen.
Roles shift.
Still, if Seattle can’t carve out a real path for him and another club sees a clearer opening, Bliss’s name should come up in trade discussions. He’s not a headline piece, but he could be the kind of second or third player that helps the Mariners land the bat they need. Teams are always looking for controllable, athletic upper-minors players who can help soon, and Bliss fits that mold.
If the Mariners decide to keep him, that makes sense too. But they can’t ignore what he’s doing. If he keeps hitting like this, he’s going to force the organization to choose between holding onto useful depth and giving a blocked player a better shot somewhere else.
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Rodrguez was struck in the back of the helmet during a double-play sequence, while Robles was hit on the forearm and later replaced in the fifth inning. Weston Wilson came in for Robles, and Luke Raley shifted to center field, a reminder of how quickly one game can turn into an availability issue for a team that can ill afford to lose more everyday pieces. [Read more 🡒]