Entering the 2022 season, the Seattle Mariners are going to heavily rely on shortstop J.P. Crawford to continue improving at the plate and be a key figure in their lineup.
But right now, Crawford is day-to-day for the Mariners because he had a dental procedure. As a result, he last played on March 28. He is hoping to play on Friday … but on Thursday, he had what could be an early candidate for the quote of the year.
Seattle Mariners’ J.P. Crawford: “It feels like my face has a heartbeat.”
After having his dental procedure, Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford must have had some throbbing in his mouth because he told Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times that “it feels like my face has a heartbeat.”
JP Crawford on the effects of his dental surgery: “it feels like my face has a heartbeat.”
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) March 31, 2022
He’s hoping to play tomorrow.
Most people that have had any dental procedure done on them (root canal, wisdom teeth, etc.) would agree that they are not fun but, fortunately for Crawford, it isn’t serious so he should still be ready to go for Opening Day.
Crawford, 27, has 16 plate appearances thus far in Spring Training and he is hitting .250/.400/.313 with a double, an RBI, and four walks.
In 2021, Crawford had the best season in his career. He played in more than 100+ games for the first time since he made his debut in 2017 as he played in 160 games. He hit .273/.338/.376 with an OPS+ of 101 with nine homers, 54 RBI, and 37 doubles.
Defensively, he had 8 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), which was part of the reason why he had an rWAR of 3.8. Both of those were the second-highest on the team.
In 2022, he will be flanked by two new infielders as Eugenio Suárez is slated to be the everyday third baseman and Adam Frazier will be Crawford’s double play partner. Both were brought in to help the Mariners’ offense but Crawford is hoping that he will be an All-Star in 2022 like his new teammates have been in the past.
Prior to 2021, Crawford had never hit above .255 and never had an OPS+ above 91, both of which he achieved in 2020. He also won an AL Gold Glove Award in 2020 after he had 6 DRS in 53 games.