PEORIA, Ariz. — The boxes are beginning to stack up in front of empty lockers at the Peoria Sports Complex.
There is a pile of fan mail waiting for to answer, while an order of unopened gear sits at ‘s space. Those items won’t be dealt with until the ‘ stars return from the
And it isn’t just their All-Star center fielder and closer (along with superstar catcher ) missing at spring training. Seattle’s organization sent 18 total players to the tournament — the most from any team in Major League Baseball — including a quarter of its entire 40-man roster.
“It’s been overwhelming to the point where we’ve wondered if the federations are aware that there are 29 other teams to purge in the league,” M’s president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto joked over the weekend. “We have a very diverse roster, and it shows in the tournament.”
With their players representing nations hoping to be competing until the final days of Cactus League play, the vibe has changed at Mariners camp since the full team reported last month.
“It’s a little different, for sure,” veteran catcher stated. “There’s definitely pieces missing in this locker room. But this clubhouse was so tight last year that we’ll be able to find that groove right away when they come back.”
With so many Mariners competing, it’s hard to turn on a WBC game and not see one. It has provided entertainment for their teammates back at camp — and just a little trepidation for the manager and the front office.
“Saw get hit in the elbow,” manager Dan Wilson said last weekend. “That’s every organization’s nightmare, to see something like that. There’s always that. But you can’t go compete cautiously.”
Dipoto also downplayed the idea that the front office is watching the games with bated breath, even if that feeling did exist in some corners of the sport when the event started nearly 20 years ago. Now, there is a prevailing belief that the benefits outweigh the risks — even from a front office that has been burned before.
“It happened to us in 2017,” Dipoto said with a sigh. “We signed . He’s pitching in the WBC, through five innings, was throwing 95, 96 miles an hour. And we felt like the cat that ate the canary. And about two weeks later, he had Tommy John surgery. And that could happen to anybody.
“Your fingers are crossed, just like when your kids are first learning how to drive. They pull out and you’re thinking, ‘Man, just please come back safe.’ That is my wish for all of the guys that left. And when you’re watching a game, you can’t help but have that in the corner of your mind.”
Dipoto, Wilson and the coaching staff also are watching with a keen eye on how guys are performing — not so much for results but to assess where they are compared with where they would be if they were still in camp. It’s not as easy on television, but at least they’re getting an idea of March performances in high-leverage moments.
” threw 11 strikes on 14 pitches, and that’s what you want to see,” Dipoto said of one of his reliever’s appearances. “And just like in Arizona, if a ball leaves the ballpark, it is what it is. But what you want to see is execute, throw the ball where you want to in the strike zone, work ahead — all that good stuff.”
What the team loses in its stars leaving for a couple of weeks, it gains in opportunities for others. Garver is an example. Re-signed after camp began — and not long before Raleigh left to play for Team USA — Garver is getting more looks than he would if the 2025 American League MVP runner-up were getting ready for the season ahead of him on the depth chart. The same goes for other catchers in newcomer and journeyman , who might not be in camp at all under normal circumstances.
“It was great to be around Cal for three weeks,” Reetz said. “We [catchers] miss him here. I’m just trying to enjoy being in this room.”
By the start of February, Dipoto understood what his camp would look like:
“I said it to [top prospect] Colt Emerson in the very early stages of spring training: ‘My bet is you lead the Cactus League in plate appearances. You’re going to get chances.'”
Emerson isn’t quite at the top of the list among all players — but he is second on the team with 23 at-bats.
For a very short while — before players left for the WBC — it actually was hard to get at-bats or even a place in the clubhouse at all. In preparation for the mass exodus, Dipoto bulked up his spring roster. He brought in 77 players, estimating it ranks among the most ever for the Mariners.
“I think we had more than that in 2019 when we were in the first year of our rebuild,” he said. “We just spread it out and we went maybe a layer deeper in what we were doing with our invites. We signed a few more free agents on the minor league side, knowing that we had opportunity to provide. And that opportunity may not leak into the regular season, but for this seven-week period, if you are a minor league free agent and you know you are getting a full run in spring training with all the reps, you’re in. You’ll take that.”
The sheer number of players in camp created a more difficult job than usual for Mariners clubhouse employees Chris Dewitt and Joe Van Vleck. It’s their responsibility to make sure players are set up in the locker room — all 77 of them.
“Well, first of all, we only have 75 lockers,” Dewitt said with a smile. “We had to add a locker a couple times. And the only two numbers available were 0 and 77, so Garver got No. 77. That’s the new highest number.”
As Vleck added, “When we bring in a veteran guy late in camp, you don’t want to put him in a makeshift locker. and Mitch Garver were late, so we scrambled.”
But the biggest difference from a normal spring training is something that can’t be replicated from afar or covered by replacements to fill out the lineup or solved with some extra jersey numbers: team bonding time.
“It’s more about what you lose in the clubhouse,” Wilson said. “It’s not work or at-bats. It’s more about losing part of your family for a bit of time. That’s the tough part of the WBC. The camaraderie. Getting to know some of the newer guys.”
Garver agreed.
“A lot of those guys that left are the heartbeat of the team, so there’s a shift in the energy,” he said. “But it’s also cool because there’s guys in there we wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to spend time with.”
As teams are eliminated in the WBC over the next week, players will return to Mariners camp — some with bragging rights after a deep run and everyone with stories to tell of their tournament experience. That’s when spring training will start to get back to normal — just in time for the regular season to begin.
“Camp was really, really big because Dan knew the WBC was going to happen,” veteran newcomer said. “So, it was a big, big camp, and then it got really small, really fast. Hopefully, some of these guys don’t come back ’til the end of camp. That means that the WBC went well for them and their country.”
