Mariners’ Victor Robles has finally found his sweet spot: ‘I want to stay here’

SEATTLE – A straight route, it was not.

Chasing down a fly ball Sunday afternoon, Victor Robles spun right and sprinted toward the center-field wall, tracking over his left shoulder a well-struck drive from the Philadelphia Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto.

Robles quickly realized he’d made a wrong turn, spun the other way and began to track the ball over his right shoulder.

As he reached the warning track, Robles had to make yet another adjustment, reaching behind his head with the glove on his left hand to make the catch, an improbable play that serves as a rather fitting symbol of Robles’ circuitous path to sudden stardom with the Seattle Mariners.

“I just like it here. I want to stay here,” Robles said after the game. “I like the vibes the fans bring. I just really like Seattle. I would really like to stay here.”

The Mariners took a flier on Robles two months ago, signing him to a minimum contract through the end of the season after he was cut loose by the Washington Nationals. Expectations were low. He was only going to play sporadically for the Mariners, against left-handed pitchers or as a late-game substitution.

In his first at-bat with the Mariners, he grounded into a game-ending double play in a 2-1 loss in Oakland. The next day, in his first defensive chance with the Mariners, he dropped a routine fly ball in left field.

No one could have reasonably predicted what would follow.

Robles, 27, emerged as the most productive hitter in the Mariners’ lineup, taking over the leadoff spot for the injured J.P. Crawford and holding down center field for the injured Julio Rodriguez, while keeping the Mariners afloat during their sluggish July.

Working closely with Mariners hitting coach Jarret DeHart, Robles made some notable adjustments to his setup at the plate. His hands are positioned much lower and he has entirely emitted his old leg kick, which he says has allowed him to get his hands through the zone faster and utilize his lower half more effectively.

“I’ve always been a quick hips type of guy,” Robles said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. “And ‘JD’ made some type of balance in between and helped me with a scissor swing a little bit, so I can have more direction to the ball. I just got close to him and told him that I’m here to do whatever I thought was going to help me out.”

Robles has a career-high 32.6% hard-hit rate, and he’s hitting .349 with a .934 OPS in 97 plate appearance with the Mariners. He’s 10 for 10 in stolen-base attempts with Seattle, and his 170 wRC+ (average is 100) since June 5 ranks 12th in the American League.

“He’s the kind of jolt, energy we need,” catcher Cal Raleigh said.

In Friday’s 10-2 victory over the Phillies, Robles launched a home run on the first pitch thrown from rookie Tyler Phillips, a 109.8-mph blast that registered as Robles’ hardest hit in five years.

On Sunday, after robbing Realmuto of an extra-base hit in front of the center-field wall, he sprinted in on the very next pitch and made a sliding grab to haul in a popup off the bat of Nick Castellanos for the final out of the seventh inning.

He flashed a No Fly Zone “X” with his arms after both catches as a tribute to Rodriguez.

“Vic is doing things on a baseball field with some kind of flair right now,” manager Scott Servais said. “He’s been huge for us.”

Robles, playing through a minor hip injury of late, said his confidence “is through the roof” right now.

“I think it broke the scale,” he said with a smile.

Coming up alongside Juan Soto in the Washington Nationals system, Robles was a much-hyped prospect, and he was the 22-year-old center fielder on the Nationals’ 2019 World Series championship team.

He had a gradual decline after that, in part because of a rash of injuries, hitting just .225 with a .615 OPS in 2020-23.

Leaving the Nationals, he said, was a “weight off my shoulders.”

In Seattle, he said he’s discovered a newfound freedom. He’s enjoying baseball for the first time in a long time.

“I came here and started fresh,” he said Sunday. “The confidence [Servais] had in me – one of the first things he told me was, ‘Just be you.’ And that really stuck with me and really motivated me, and that’s the kind of the confidence I’ve been playing with.”