Former Mariners prospect Ben Williamson is off to a strong spring with the Rays, giving Seattle fans another reason to revisit the Brendan Donovan trade.
Ben Williamson is off to a strong start with the Rays this spring, hitting .375 with two home runs in his first 36 plate appearances. Tampa Bay has also liked what it has seen from him defensively, with Kevin Cash praising the way Williamson’s bat has come to life while the club continues moving him around the infield.
For Mariners fans, that is naturally going to stand out. Williamson was a recent second-round pick, a glove-first infielder with real contact skills, and the kind of player organizations usually believe they can get useful major league value out of if the bat takes even a modest step forward. Seattle still chose to move him as part of a deal that brought Brendan Donovan to town, and there is still a pretty reasonable case for why the Mariners made that choice.Donovan is the more proven major league player, he gives Seattle more immediate offensive stability, and the trade was clearly about improving the roster now. But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to keep an eye on Williamson, especially when he starts doing exactly the kind of things that make a prospect feel a little harder to let go of.It’s easy to look at Williamson thriving with Tampa Bay and assume the Rays simply unlocked something Seattle never saw, but the truth is a little more layered than that. Williamson was already starting to make some adjustments after getting sent back down to Tacoma last season following the Mariners’ Eugenio Suárez reunion. That demotion could have easily stalled his momentum, but instead it sounds like it became an opportunity for him to keepThe winter focus on staying on his back leg and cleaning up his timing only adds to that idea. So while the Rays deserve credit for putting him in a good position and expanding his defensive value, some of the growth showing up this spring appears to be part of a progression that had already started before the trade. That’s probably the part that will bother Mariners fans the most. Williamson always looked like the kind of player whose value couldThe glove was never really the concern. And of course the Rays, of all teams, feel like a pretty fitting landing spot for a player like this. They have made a habit of finding useful value in versatile, instinctive infielders who do not need to be stars to become meaningful contributors.but it doesn't tell you everything, and 36 plate appearances are not enough to rewrite the story of a trade.TREMAYNE PERSON Tremayne Person is the Publisher for Mariners On SI and the Site Expert at Friars on Base, with additional bylines across FanSided’s MLB division. He founded the Keep It Electric podcast in 2023 and covers baseball with a blend of analysis, context, and a little well-timed side-eye just to keep things honest. Tremayne grew up a Mariners fan in Richmond, Va., and that passion ultimately led him to move to Seattle to cover the team closely and become a regular at home games. Through his writing, he connects with fans who want a deeper, more personal understanding of the game. When he’s not at T-Mobile Park, he’s with his dog, gaming, or finding the next storyline worth digging into.
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