Josh Naylor traded to Seattle...

The first trade of the deadline finally hit the news yesterday when Josh Naylor was traded to the Seattle Mariners for two pitching prospects. This will impact the Mariners a lot down the stretch as well as their deadline strategy and will affect how the DBacks continue to sell off their pieces. Let’s breakdown each side:

Mariners side:

The Mariners received left handed first baseman Josh Naylor to supplement their lineup. So far this season Seattle has had multiple players try and fill the void they’ve had at first base for a number of years. They’ve tried Rowdy Tellez, Donovan Solano, and Luke Raley all try and start there but nobody has played well enough to be an actual contributor on a contending team. This is why Naylor is such a big need for them. Even though Naylor’s lost some of his power going down from 31 homers last season to 11 this season he has increased his ability to make contact and as a result his average has jumped almost 50 points. He’s a hitter that walks a good amount and rarely strikes out. His problem this season has been his bat speed has dropped significantly, which has led to his barrel and hard hit percentages to drop. His new found approach though has been working this season and even with the dropped power he continues to be a productive hitter that’s going to fit nicely in the Mariners lineup. Naylor is in the last year of his deal and likely will test the waters of free agency which should be good for the Mariners because I’m not sure if his current approach is sustainable as he heads into his 30s. This also changes the Mariners approach at the deadline as they’ve been linked to other hitters like Eugenio Suarez but will likely back off now that they got Naylor for pretty cheap. All in all a good deal I believe will pay off for Seattle as they make their final push.

Mariners grade: B

Diamondbacks side:

The Dbacks received two pitching prospects in the deal lefty Brandyn Garcia and righty Ashton Izzi. For a rental this return isn’t bad especially for being the first move at the deadline. Garcia was moved from being a starter in 2024 to a full time reliever in 2025. He was so good in the minors this year he moved all the way from AA to Seattle for two games. He has a super funky arm angle that makes it super hard to pick up on his sinker that sits at 97 mph. He has two different breaking balls: a harder gyro slider that sits around 90 mph and a sweeper that’s able to get 15.4 inches of sweep it’s nasty. He also has a changeup that is rarely thrown. His sweeper is his calling card and can consistently get whiffs. His stuff is basically MLB ready and could slide nicely into the Dbacks bullpen for a while. Ashton Izzi on the other hand is going to have to wait much longer. He’s currently in A+ and has struggled this season. He has a decent fastball that’s in the upper 90s with solid movement but has been hit hard at times this season. His main pitch is his slider which has been really good his whole career and gets a lot of hitters out. He rounds it out with a decent changeup too. He’s not a major prospect with a ton of upside and likely would peak as an end of the rotation starter but will still round into anywhere from the 15-20 range in the Dbacks prospect list. He’s going to have to rework his fastball to limit damage to grow within the organization. I would say this return is a pretty good job for the Dbacks and sets them up well to continue to add young talent at the deadline. 

Diamondbacks grade: B