Seattle Mariners Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto announced today that the Mariners have signed shortstop Jean Segura to a five-year contract extension, covering the 2018-2022 seasons, with a club-option for 2023.
Per club policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"Over the past two seasons, Jean has been one of the premier offensive players in baseball," Dipoto said. "His combination of average, power and speed is extremely difficult to find, especially as a top-of-the-lineup hitter at a key defensive position like shortstop. We are all quite excited about having him here with the Mariners and believe he is a key ingredient in our ongoing effort to build a championship level roster."
The Mariners acquired Segura along with outfielder Mitch Haniger and left-handed pitcher Zac Curtis in a trade last November with the Arizona Diamondbacks for pitcher Taijuan Walker and shortstop Ketel Marte.
In his first season as a Mariner, Segura, 27, has hit .341 (62x182) with 29 runs, 10 doubles, 4 home runs, 20 RBI, a .391 on-base percentage and a .852 OPS in 43 games with Seattle. Despite two stints on the disabled list this season, he leads the American League in batting (.341), is T5th in multi-hit games (20), 7^th in on-base percentage (.391), and 9^th in hits (62). He's hitting .338 (48x142) vs. right-handed pitching this year, tops in the AL, and .350 (14x40) vs. LHP, 9^th in the AL.
Since the start of the 2016 season, Jean ranks 4^th in Major League Baseball in hits (265) and 5th in batting average (.324), despite two stints on the disabled list. Among leadoff hitters during that same span, he leads the Majors in doubles (48) while ranking 2nd in extra-base hits (79) and 5th in RBI (83).
Last year with Arizona, Segura hit .319 with 203 hits, 102 runs, 41 doubles, 7 triples, 20 home runs, 64 RBI and 33 steals in 153 games. His on-base percentage of .368 and slugging percentage of .499 gave him an OPS of .867. Segura batted leadoff in 147 games, hitting all of his home runs from that spot, including 8 homers to lead off a game. Among NL leadoff hitters, ranked 1^st in hits (198), T1st in triples (7), 2nd in total bases (310), T2nd in homers (20), 3^rd in RBI (63) and 5^th in average (.319). He posted a 6.9 WAR, 2^nd highest in NL to Kris Bryant (8.3) and best by a NL second baseman since Chase Utley in 2009 (7.4) [source: STATS LLC] . Segura, who played 142 games at second base and 23 at shortstop last season, finished 13^th in the NL MVP voting.
His combination of 20+ home runs, 30+ steals, 40+ doubles, 100+ runs, 200+ hits and a .300+ average in 2016 has only been done five times since the start of the 2000 season. Segura joined Alfonso Soriano (2002 w/NYY), Hanley Ramirez (2007 w/FLA), Jacoby Ellsbury (2011 w/BOS) and Jose Altuve (2016 w/HOU).
Segura is currently on the 10-day disabled list with a right high ankle sprain (June 2-current).
The 5-foot-10, 205-pound infielder has played for four ML teams: the Los Angeles Angels (one game in 2012), the Milwaukee Brewers (2012-2015) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (2016) before joining the Mariners this season. He is a career .284 hitter in his six big league seasons (675 games) with 105 doubles, 31 triples, 47 home runs and 228 RBI.