With 'The Kid' at the top, here are Mariners' top 10 MLB debuts

SEATTLE -- There are few events more nerve-racking -- and anticipated -- in MLB than a player’s debut, and that’s especially true in Seattle, where the Mariners have had countless high-end prospects earn their calling to The Show.

Here is a subjective list of the 10 greatest debut games in team history (Note: Players considered were making their overall MLB debut, not their team debut with the Mariners).

1) Ken Griffey Jr.
April 3, 1989 at ATH

“The Kid” headlined prospect rankings well before they went mainstream, and he lived up to the hype in a big way when getting his first action at the ripe age of 19. In his very first at-bat -- on Opening Day, after making the team out of Spring Training -- Griffey ripped an opposite-field double off the left-field wall against A’s workhorse Dave Stewart and the eventual World Series champions. Drafted No. 1 overall in 1987, Griffey played in just 129 games in the Minors the next two years, and never above Double-A. His debut was just the beginning of a generational career, and given his hype, it felt like a promise kept.

2) Alvin Davis
April 11, 1984 vs. BOS

Not many could’ve envisioned it at the time, but Davis’ debut marked the arrival of a franchise cornerstone -- one whose impact is still felt in his role with the team today. The first baseman wasted little time announcing himself to Seattle, homering in his first game and injecting life into a young franchise that had been mired in mediocrity. Davis would go on to win that year’s AL Rookie of the Year Award and later would earn the nickname “Mr. Mariner,” a moniker that he still holds. Today, he is a special assignment coordinator in the team’s player development department, and the organizational Alvin Davis “Mr. Mariner” Award is given annually to the Minor Leaguer who best represents exemplary play and leadership skills at the ballpark and in the community.

3) Ichiro Suzuki
April 2, 2001 vs. ATH

There might not have been more international anticipation for a debut in the sport’s history at the time Suzuki reached the U.S. in 2001, after a lengthy courtship from the Mariners that dated back to the mid-1990s. While he didn’t have a huge statistical explosion, his first game drew intense attention as the first Japanese-born position player in MLB history. Beginning the night 0-for-3, Suzuki finally broke through with a trademark up-the-middle single during the seventh inning. He then scored on an RBI single from Edgar Martinez that sparked a 5-4 comeback win. Suzuki would go on to have one of the best debut seasons in the sport’s history, becoming just the second player (Fred Lynn) to win Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in the same year.

4) George Kirby
May 8, 2022 vs. TB

Known throughout his Minor League development to possess poise and control, Kirby flashed his elite strike-throwing ability in a dominant way when reaching the Majors in 2022. Seattle’s first-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft racked up seven strikeouts and zero walks while surrendering just four hits over six scoreless innings in a 2-1, 10-inning win. Making the moment sweeter was that it came on Mother’s Day, with most of his family and friends in attendance. He even had a cheering section that could be heard on the broadcast.

5) Bryce Miller
May 2, 2023 at ATH

No arm ascended more in Seattle’s pitching-heavy pipeline leading into the ‘23 season than Miller, who finally got his opportunity as a long-term replacement to Robbie Ray roughly five weeks into the season. In a mostly empty Oakland Coliseum, Miller carried a perfect game until the sixth inning of an eventual 2-1 win while racking up 10 strikeouts, the most by a Mariners pitcher in a debut. He also became just the third pitcher in AL/NL history with that many K’s to go with zero walks in a debut, joining Stephen Strasburg and Johnny Cueto.

6) Félix Hernández
Aug. 4, 2005 at DET

From Griffey to Alex Rodriguez and Julio Rodríguez, the Mariners have had an assortment of highly anticipated homegrown debuts. But arguably no pitcher was more awaited than “The King,” who finally arrived on a steamy day at Comerica Park late in ‘05. At 19 years and 118 days old, Hernández at the time was just the third-youngest player in club history to make his debut (behind Ed Nunez and A-Rod). And despite his high-90s velocity and swing-and-miss changeup, his biggest moment of the night was his first out, when he escaped a bases-loaded jam with just one run surrendered.

7) Kazuhiro Sasaki
April 5, 2000 vs. BOS

Touted at the time as one of the greatest relievers in Japanese baseball history, Sasaki joined the Mariners with 229 saves over 10 seasons in Japan's Central League. And he picked up right where he left off after signing with Seattle in the 1999-2000 offseason, firing a scoreless ninth inning with a soft landing in a 9-3 win. The next night, he recorded his first of 37 saves that season, which set a record for a rookie, and he would go on to become the second-oldest AL Rookie of the Year Award winner (Sam Jethroe), at age 32.

8) Cole Young
May 31, 2025 vs. MIN

With his team facing expectations and badly needing an early-summer boost, Young was called up after raking at Triple-A Tacoma, becoming Seattle’s highest-ranked middle infield prospect to debut in a decade. And he announced himself emphatically when leading the Mariners to 5-4 win with a walk-off fielder’s choice in the 11th inning. Young’s chopper to the first baseman allowed Miles Mastrobuoni to surge home and slide around the tag, after which Young’s new teammates mobbed the then-21-year-old. In the process, Young -- the Mariners’ first-round Draft pick in 2022 -- became the first player in franchise history to have a walk-off plate appearance in his first career game.

9) Kyle Lewis
Sept. 10, 2019 vs. CIN

Overcoming a major knee injury in his first pro season three years prior made Lewis’ first hit in the Majors that much more rewarding. Seattle’s first-round pick in the 2016 MLB Draft clobbered a game-tying solo homer in the fifth inning of an eventual 4-3 win for his first career hit, then was mobbed by his teammates in the dugout. With Seattle at the end of its first year of a franchise-defining rebuild, Lewis’ arrival was among the season’s highlights. He would homer in each of his first three games as a September callup, then went on to win AL Rookie of the Year the following year during the pandemic-impacted season before more knee injuries derailed his career.

10) Al Chambers
July 23, 1983 vs. BOS

No Mariners player has had more RBIs in a debut than Chambers, who racked up four as part of a 2-for-4 game that led Seattle to a 5-0 win. The third first-round pick in the Mariners’ MLB Draft history -- at No. 1 overall in 1979 -- Chambers didn’t pan out long term due to a combination of injuries and a lack of developed power hitting, as he played just three seasons in the Majors.