25-year old lefty swinging 1B/OF/DH Mike Carp has been the Mariners’ best hitter this year. He has played in 70 games for the Mariners this year and he is 70 for 253 (.277 avg, .809 OPS) with 25 runs scored, 11 homers and 43 RBIs. Carp has now played in 105 games in his first three years with the Mariners and he is 94 for 344 (.273 avg, .789 OPS) with 33 runs scored, 12 homers and 48 RBIs. I’m not so sure where Carp will be playing in the field (or if he will DH), but he will have a regular spot in the lineup in 2012 as the Mariners need all of the offensive help that they can get.

23-year old lefty swinging 3B Kyle Seager is really starting to catch fire for the Mariners. In his last three games (all against the Indians), Seager was 10 for 13 (.769 avg) with 5 runs scored, 5 doubles, 1 homer and 2 RBIs. He has now played in 23 games overall this year for the Mariners and he is 25 for 80 (.313 avg, .825 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 2 homers and 5 RBIs. Seager came into this season as the Mariners’ #9 prospect according to Baseball America and he has shown why this whole year. He has also played in 90 games in AA+AAA-ball so far this year and he was 124 for 372 (.333 avg, .894 OPS) with 57 runs scored, 7 homers, 54 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. He looks like he will have a bright future for the Mariners.

28-year old starting CF Franklin Gutierrez is starting to heat up at the plate. He has played in 16 games so far in August, and he is 17 for 59 (.288 avg, .679 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 0 homers, 4 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Gutierrez has now played in 76 games for the Mariners so far this year and he is 56 for 260 (.215 avg, .517 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 1 homer, 13 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. It’s interesting that Gutierrez started to finally hit after the Mariners traded for outfielders Casper Wells and Trayvon Robinson.

26-year old righty swinging outfielder Casper Wells has been on fire since coming over from the Tigers in the Doug Fister deal. Wells has played in 11 games for the Mariners so far and he is 14 for 39 (.359 avg, 1.111 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 4 homers, 10 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He has now played in 75 games for the Mariners & Tigers this year and he is 43 for 152 (.283 avg, .862 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 8 homers, 22 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. The Mariners hope that Wells continues to roll for them as they have the ABs to give him.

23-year old lefty swinging 2B Dustin Ackley came into this season as the Mariners’ #1 prospect according to Baseball America and he’s showing why. Ackley has played in 39 games for the Mariners so far this year and he is 45 for 143 (.315 avg, .937 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 10 doubles, 5 triples, 5 homers, 23 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He has only whiffed 21 times this year as he is making consistent hard contact at the plate. He is giving the Mariners the spark they really need at the plate.