After injuries slowed his start to the season, Ryan Bliss has starred for the Tacoma Rainiers over the last month. Since he was optioned back from the Big Leagues on June 16, Bliss has found his stride with Tacoma and has been one of the most productive players in the PCL, ranking among league leaders in batting average, hits, doubles, and runs batted in. For Bliss, it's a period that has helped spark Tacoma's bats while also reminding the Mariners of what they see in him for the future. "There have been a lot of changes," Bliss said. "Some of it mentally, some of it mechanically. The start of the season was a little bit different because I was trying to get back from some injuries and find myself again. When I came back down after being at the Major League level, I made some changes while I was up there, and things have really started to click since then."
Before becoming a Major Leaguer, Bliss had made quite the name for himself in college at Auburn. Even though Bliss earned All-American status during his junior year, his freshman year remains the one he holds in very high regard. Being a part of the team that participated in the College World Series in Omaha, Bliss still finds his freshman year of college to be one of the defining moments of his baseball career. "One of my favorite years was my first year because I played in every single game as a freshman and I got a chance to help us make it to the College World Series in Omaha where we played in front of 20,000 people and on ESPN. That experience really helped me get prepared for professional baseball, playing every day with cameras and media around," says Bliss.
The consistency was one of the factors that allowed Bliss to be drafted in 2021 by Arizona in the second round. "Draft day was special," Bliss said. "I had all of my friends and family from Auburn at a draft party. We were there so early that we had not even set out the food before I got the call. Getting called with all those people around me was amazing." As with many other players, the draft day meant the culmination of all the hard work, and Bliss could enjoy the fruits of his labor, surrounded by his family, friends and teammates and finally become a professional baseball player.
His time with Arizona did not last long, though. He was dealt with Dominic Canzone and Josh Rojas to Seattle in exchange for Paul Sewald at the 2023 trade deadline. The move marked a return to the Pacific Northwest for Bliss, somewhere that he already got a taste of. Just two weeks before the trade, Bliss visited Seattle to play in the All-Star Futures Game, and he got an opportunity to experience the city's baseball environment for the first time. "I remember telling my then-girlfriend, who's now my wife, that I loved everything about the place,”
Bliss had some of the best offensive games of his professional career recently on Tacoma’s road trip to Las Vegas, where he had four consecutive three-hit games against the Aviators. The secret behind the success for Bliss is to not try and do too much but rather to keep it simple and trust all the hard work he has done up to this point. “That felt really good,” said Bliss. “Just tried to take it one at-bat at a time, and trust the training that I have done. When you do that, then you can relax a little bit. Last week, I was really in it and trusted myself.”
While speed has always been one of his biggest assets, his approach to running the bases has changed a great deal over time. Rather than seeing stolen bases as personal achievements, Bliss now sees himself as using aggressive baserunning as yet another tool in generating scoring opportunities for his teammates. “The more I got into my career, the more I understood the importance of baserunning was more than just getting stats in terms of stealing,” said Bliss. “It’s making things easy for your teammates to drive in. As long as you’re at third, then the only thing the batter has to do is make contact. I always like to consider what would happen if I was a batter up there and how I’d like to be helped out.”
Another influential factor for Bliss' development is his friendship with Mariners infielder J.P. Crawford. Since Bliss joined the team, Crawford welcomed Bliss and gave him all the guidance he needed. In this case for Bliss, as a young player looking to become an integral part of an MLB team, associating himself with a great defender like Crawford in a role that he wants to play could not have been better. "'Whatever you need, just let me know,' he told me," Bliss explained. "It's a Gold Glove shortstop who plays the position that I would like to play, so how can I not pick his brain about it?" Their relationship has bloomed well beyond the playing field, as Crawford officiated Bliss’ wedding this past January.
Now healthy, confident and producing at a high level again in Triple-A, Bliss has positioned himself as an important piece of the Mariners' future. His recent success is the product of years of learning, adapting and trusting the process through every stage of his baseball career. As he continues to thrive with Tacoma, Bliss's focus remains the same as it has always been: trust his preparation, play with confidence and continue doing whatever it takes to help his team win.