Mariners’ J.P. Crawford feeling better but still set to miss few weeks

J.P. Crawford has been out since April. 24 with a strained oblique, but the Seattle Mariners received an encouraging update on Sunday.

When J.P. Crawford was placed on the 10-day Injured List, there was some understandable concern about how long the Seattle Mariners would be without him. As per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, it subsequently transpired he had suffered a Grade 1 right oblique strain during batting practice last Wednesday, at Globe Life Field in Texas.

Almost right away, Crawford knew something was wrong. Speaking to the media soon after, including MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer, he said:

“I instantly felt it just grab. And then I tried to take one more swing after that and knew something was up.”

On Sunday, the Mariners and their fans received some encouraging news in respect of the 2013 16th overall draft pick. He was able to field some grounders — albeit with no throwing yet — and do light jogging in the outfield prior to the series finale versus the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Crawford advised that he is feeling a lot better, after previously finding it painful to make general movements or even cough. It should be noted though that there is still no official timeline for his return, with him still likely to be out for a few weeks.

The Mariners have been okay without the 2020 Gold Glove Award winner thus far, winning three of the five games he has missed through injury. More generally speaking the team has recovered from their poor start to the 2024 season, going 9-3 in their past 12 games and sitting at the top of the AL West division entering Monday’s action.

Which version of Crawford will return to the lineup?

Whenever Crawford does return, the Mariners will be hoping he can look more like his usual self, specifically on offence. As things stand, this year he is projected to have the worst slash line and OPS of his eight seasons in the Majors.

(In fairness though, it should be noted Crawford had begun to turn things around before his injury. He had managed to record at least one hit in nine of his 10 previous games, producing a .275/.383/.360 slash line in the process.)

This is in stark contrast to the 2023 campaign, when the Long Beach, California native set career bests with 19 home runs, 65 RBI and 94 walks. By extension, he also set single season highs with a .380 OBP, .438 slugging percentage, .818 OPS and 130 OPS+.

As a result, Crawford even received some recognition in finishing 16th in AL MVP voting. In the long run he should be fine and productive as the Mariners’ starting shortstop; for now, it’s just a case of recovering and returning to the lineup as soon as is feasible.

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Sunday saw Leo Rivas pick up the first hit of his Major League career and it was a special one, becoming just the fourth player in Mariners history to record a triple in his first career plate appearance. Of extra significance, Rivas was brought up from Triple-A Tacoma to take Crawford’s spot on the roster after his injury.

Whenever Crawford is ready to return, are you confident he can return to his offensive form of recent seasons? Or are you concerned he will continue to struggle at the plate, as he did prior to his injury? Let us know in the comments section below.