Mariners Moose Tracks, 7/17/25: Shintaro Fujinami, Adam Frazier, and Byron Buxton

The Slaptain is on the move once more.

Good morning everyone! We’ve got just one day left until the second half of the baseball season begins, and we have plenty of news and analysis coming your way in the interim.

In Mariners news...

• Mariners offseason minor league signing Shintaro Fujinami will take his flamethrowing talents to the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
• Bryan Woo’s grandfather quietly passed away last week, but he did get to see his grandson named to the All-Star team. Daniel Kramer wrote about his impact on Woo’s life and career in baseball.
• Jeff Passan expects the Mariners to be aggressive at this year’s trade deadline. Buckle up, folks.
• In my latest piece for Baseball America, I spoke to Mariners minor league pitching coordinator Quinn Cleary about what excites the M’s about Kade Anderson and how they view him from a developmental lens. ($)

Around the league...

• The July deadline season kicked off with the Royals acquiring infielder Adam Frazier from the Pirates.
• Byron Buxton quickly shot down any rumors that he would be traded, saying he has a full no-trade clause and that he plans to stay in Minnesota.
• The Rangers placed infielder Jake Burger on the injured list with a quad strain.
• This year’s Home Run Derby enjoyed 5% higher viewership than last year, while the All-Star Game was the highest-watched of its kind in professional sports.
• Since we’re at the halfway point, Bradford Doolittle at ESPN broke down the state of the major award races in baseball.
• Baseball Prospectus unveiled their midseason top 50 prospects, which includes a quartet of Mariners. A bonus Mariner snuck into their “next 10” list as well. ($)
• Kiley McDaniel at ESPN broke down the draft classes for all 30 teams.
• Keith Law at The Athletic provided his analysis of the AL West draft classes, giving his thoughts on several players for each team. ($)
• Patrick Dubuque at Baseball Prospectus wonders if the solution to the league’s ills is to make outfields bigger. ($)

Anders’ picks...

• Nintendo is dropping a big game today — Donkey Kong Bananza — and people are already talking about it as a Game of the Year contender.