The first big move of the 2025-26 MLB offseason happened on November 16, one that involved a former All-Star re-signing with one of his 2025 teams. Josh Naylor, who helped power the Mariners to an ALCS berth, re-signed with Seattle on a reported five-year deal.
A Look at Naylor
First baseman Josh Naylor moved around a lot over the past year.
Naylor, after he hit a career-best 31 home runs, was traded away last December by the Guardians with one year left before being eligible for free agency. Cleveland sent him to Arizona, a team that needed first base help when Christian Walker went to the open market.
The 27-year-old did just fine as a Diamondback, as Naylor slashed .292/.360/.447 (.807 OPS) with 11 home runs and 31 extra-base hits. However, with the Diamondbacks falling out of the playoff race, Arizona moved him to Seattle in July.
Naylor fit in very well with the Mariners. He slashed .299/.341/.490 with nine home runs and 19 extra-base hits as a Mariner. Naylor followed that up with a fantastic October, one that saw him hit .340 with three home runs.
It’s also worth noting that Naylor — not a fast runner by any means — took advantage of opposing teams on the basepaths. Naylor stole 30 bases this past year, 19 of which came in his 54 games with Seattle.
His 14 stolen bases from August 1 onward were tied for seventh in the Majors.
Naylor is an interesting hitter to say the least. A natural power with a wildman-like approach, Naylor has been productive in terms of generating extra-base hits, along with not whiffing much overall. I’ll get more into that in a minute.
The now-28-year-old can drive the ball to the pull side effectively. He had a career-high 42.2% Pull% in 2025. And, he hits fastballs very well. Two years ago, Naylor batted .352 off the heat. This past year? A .333 average, along with nine of his 20 home runs.
Chasing, though, has always been a part of his game. Naylor hacked at pitches outside of the zone over 37% of the time last season. However, it wasn’t as high as his 2023 season, when Naylor chased 39.5% of the time.
It’s not affected by how much contact Naylor’s made, though. Naylor has consistently been one of the game’s better hitters, in terms of putting the ball in play and avoiding the swing-and-miss.
Now, what’s interesting about Naylor is that while he is very aggressive, he doesn’t have a bad eye whatsoever. In fact, Naylor did a very good job of laying off bad pitches, including breaking balls, outside of the zone.
The Mariners — one of the game’s most egregious strikeout teams last season — had a lot of players hack at breaking balls out of the zone. For example, Julio Rodriguez had a 43.9% Chase% on breaking balls (slurves, sliders, sweepers, curveballs, and knuckle-curves) over the last two months, 28th-worst when limited to 25+ AB off those pitches. Eugenio Suarez (41.5%) and Cal Raleigh (40.4%) weren’t far off behind.
Naylor, with a 38.4% Whiff% and 26% Chase% off those pitches from August through September, actually ranked in the top 50% of the league when it came to hacking and slashing out of the zone.
The 40% overall Chase% rate he had on fastballs worked overtime to establish his high chase rate.
Defensively, Naylor has ranked above the league average in Outs Above Average in each of the last three seasons.
Per MLB.com, the Mariners will re-sign Josh Naylor to a five-year extension.
Analysis
The Mariners’ brass made it clear that re-signing Naylor was their top priority. It’s not hard to see why.
Naylor was a strong addition for the Mariners, as he gave Dan Wilson a power-hitting left-handed hitter to complement right-handed hitters Randy Arozarena and Julio Rodriguez, plus switch-hitter Cal Raleigh. He hit nine home runs over his two months as a Mariner in the regular season.
But on top of that, Naylor added something that the Mariners needed badly: someone who can hit for power but also put the ball in play. His 13.1% K% over the final two months ranked him in the top-30 of the league.
Plus, the Mariners didn’t have a strong in-house option to replace Naylor. Seattle traded away Tyler Locklear, who looked at one point to be an option at first down the road, in July to get Eugenio Suarez.
And at 28 years of age, the regression concern isn’t as high.
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