Mariners’ Jorge Polanco Undergoes Surgery on Left Knee, Expected to be Ready For Spring Training
Coming off a disappointing 2024 season, which included career lows offensively across the board, Seattle Mariners second baseman Jorge Polanco underwent knee surgery on Thursday, ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported.
Dr. Dan Cooper, the Dallas Cowboys’ orthopedist surgeon, performed the procedure to repair the patellar tendon in Polanco’s left knee. The 2019 All-Star isn’t expected to miss any time next year and should be ready for spring training.
Polanco has experienced countless injury flare-ups with his knee over the past three seasons, preventing him from appearing in more than 120 games since 2021. But that nagging issue snowballed into a much larger concern this year, though he continued to play through it.
Doing so, however, came at the cost of his offensive production, which suffered a significant decline during his inaugural campaign in the Pacific Northwest.
The 31-year-old switch-hitter, acquired by Seattle in a trade with the Minnesota Twins last off-season, struggled to a .213/.296/.355 slash line – all career worsts, excluding the shortened 2020 campaign – in 118 games this past season. He also compiled just 16 home runs, 45 RBIs and a 92 wRC+ (100 league average).
Most of Polanco’s woes occurred against right-handed pitching, amounting to his .198/.301/.345 hitter’s clip and 91 wRC+ from the left side – a considerable drop-off from the .233/.333/.442 line and 114 wRC+ he produced in 2023.
Polanco’s knee troubles also impacted his defensive performance at second base, leading to his minus-10 outs above average and minus-eight fielding run value – both ranking last out of 20 qualified big-league second basemen (min. 750 innings played).
The 11-year veteran has historically been a poor defender, evidenced by his career minus-27 OAA and minus-20 FRV. However, he should witness an improvement in his range capabilities next season after repairing the tendon in his knee, as Passan wrote.
Prior to joining the Mariners, Polanco spent the first 10 seasons of his career with the Twins, mainly regarded for his above-average power stroke. In 832 career games, he hit 112 home runs and drove in 447, slashing .269/.334/.446 with a 111 wRC+, worth 15.4 fWAR.
At the end of a six-year, $36-million contract signed in 2019, it remains unclear if the 5-foot-11 infielder will return for a second season in Seattle. His current deal includes a $12-million club option for ‘25 or a $750,000 buyout.
The Mariners – who missed the playoffs by a single game this past season – could save some money by declining Polanco’s option, making him a first-time free agent. In turn, they could allocate those savings to arbitration-eligible players like Randy Arozarena, Logan Gilbert, Cal Raleigh (first-time) and George Kirby (first-time) – all due significant raises this winter.
Seattle has only made the playoffs once since 2002, winning a best-of-three wild-card series against the Toronto Blue Jays in ‘22 but losing to the Houston Astros in the ALDS. They’ve won at least 90 games in two of the previous four seasons.
If Polanco enters free agency, he’d likely be among the top second basemen available, albeit in a weak market, alongside New York’s Gleyber Torres.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.