Donovan makes Mariners history in first at-bat

SEATTLE -- Brendan Donovan might be on the fast track to becoming a fan favorite in Seattle.

The Mariners’ new third baseman wasted no time getting acclimated to his new digs on Opening Day, blasting a leadoff home run off Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee that sent the T-Mobile Park crowd into a frenzy.

Donovan jumped on a 94.6 mph fastball at the top of the zone in a 3-1 count and yanked it 353 feet and just inside the right-field foul pole, evening things up at 1-1 in the first inning. The Mariners, however, couldn’t keep his rally going to the finish line in an eventual 6-4 loss.

“In a hitter's count, I think that's the time to take your shot,” Donovan said. “So I liked the matchup. Like I said, I liked the count. I feel like I had taken a couple pitches to get to that count and I thought I saw him pretty good.”

There was an historical aspect to Donovan’s big night, as he became the first in franchise history to hit a leadoff homer on Opening Day. And that itself is saying something -- both for a player who should solidify that role throughout 2026, and for a team that lacked a true leadoff man in ‘25.

Donovan said that in the moments leading up to his big blast, he was taking at-bats off the Trajekt machine simulating Bibee underneath the Mariners’ dugout. It was a continuation of the extra effort he put in at Spring Training, where he took as many hacks -- if not more -- than any hitter.

“That's a big part of my routine,” Donovan said. “And so I was like, ‘Let's take a shot here.’”

Donovan also sliced a double down the left-field line with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, when the game was tied at 3-3. It’s the totality of his contact-oriented profile that could be a huge boon atop Seattle’s lineup; he ranked in Statcast’s 96th percentile last year for batted balls squared up (36.8%) despite ranking in the 13th percentile in bat speed (69.3 mph).

More broadly, he has a career .361 on-base percentage.

Moving forward, it’ll be curious to see how Mariners manager Dan Wilson deploys the lefty-swinging Donovan, who has pronounced splits (.812 career OPS vs. righties compared to a .651 OPS vs. lefties), with the first southpaw Seattle is slated to face being Joey Cantillo on Saturday.

“I try to use the whole bat and try to use the whole field,” Donovan said. “So some may not be pretty, but I just want to have a good quality at-bat. I want tough at-bats.”

Donovan has connected swimmingly with Mariners hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, who’s preached more about the hitting process.

“It's not even about results,” Donovan said. “Like Seitzer and I have been talking about, he keeps track of all the quality at-bats, and he puts a dot next to quality of at-bats. And our goal is just to chase as many dots as possible.”

Acquired from the Cardinals one week before Spring Training, Donovan quickly endeared himself to teammates for his extreme preparation and to fans for playing like his “hair is on fire.”

Donovan went on to have one of the most productive camps of all Mariners hitters, going 19-for-46 (.413) while playing each of his 17 games at the hot corner, the position that he’s transitioned to full-time.

Seattle’s front office had long coveted Donovan before ultimately landing him on Feb. 2 as part of a three-team trade that also included Tampa Bay.

The club paid a hefty price to finally reel him in, parting ways with third baseman Ben Williamson, right-hander Jurrangelo Cijntje (MLB's No. 91 prospect, per MLB Pipeline), outfielder Tai Peete (was Mariners' No. 11 prospect, now Cardinals' No. 18) and its Competitive Balance Round B pick in this year’s MLB Draft (No. 68 overall).

But doing so was worth it to help fortify a lineup in which Donovan looked like a capstone piece. He certainly showed it with his first impression on Thursday.