Mariners Option J.P. Crawford, Aaron Nola’s Brother to Minors

By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor

Two Seattle Mariners players partially tied to the Philadelphia Phillies — through as either a former player or sibling affiliation — were optioned to the minor leagues on Wednesday, according to MLB.com: shortstop J.P. Crawford and catcher Austin Nola, the older brother of ace RHP Aaron Nola.

Crawford, 24, slashed .240/.296/.360 this spring with three runs scored, four singles, one double, one triple, two walks and six strikeouts spanning 10 games and 25 at-bats. In the field, Crawford committed no errors spanning 51 innings, 26 chances, 22 assists, four putouts and three turned double plays at shortstop.

Nola, 29, was in Mariners camp as one of five non-roster invitee catchers; he signed a minor-league pact with a spring invite on November 7, after spending his first seven seasons in the Marlins' organization. He hit .279/.370/.376 with two home runs and 32 RBI in 69 games at Triple-A New Orleans last season. This spring, Nola slashed .231/.286/.308 with two singles, one double, one RBI, one walk and six strikeouts spanning 11 games and 13 at-bats; he caught 22 innings with no committed errors spanning 30 chances, 29 putouts and one assist.

The Mariners sending down Crawford is curious, considering they traded away Jean Segura and two relievers to the Phillies to acquire him and Carlos Santana (who has since been dealt to the Cleveland Indians). It appears the club might be inclined to have the former Phillies top prospect begin the season in the minors to manipulate his service time. Crawford has logged one year and 20 days of service time so far; if he spends the first month of the 2019 season in Triple-A, Seattle could delay his free agency one year.

Tim Beckham will likely be the Mariners' Opening Day shortstop while Crawford gets another opportunity to develop in the minors.