Former Seattle Mariners Second Baseman Kolten Wong Talks About Future
As the offseason has progressed, the more the Seattle Mariners seem to be involved in rumors and speculation.
Offseason comments from team owner/chairman John Stanton and General Manager Justin Hollander have made it seem like the makeup to the 2025 Mariners will be very similar to what fans saw in 2024.
But even with those comments, Seattle has been linked to international free agents out of South Korea and Japan, multi-time All-Stars and Gold Glove winners, and familiar veterans.
Entering Friday, fans are still waiting to see if there's fire to any of the smoke behind the club bringing in any one of those players, and what the future roster of the team will look like.
A former Mariners infielder recently discussed his own future on a popular podcast on Friday.
Kolten Wong, who's been a free agent since May 27, talked about his desire to continue to play and his openness to cross borders to continue his baseball career on the "Foul Territory" podcast:
"I'm kind of open to everything. Even internationally. It's kind of a big thing for me, I always talked about possibly ending up in Japan one day. ... I did it in college. Got a chance to do that with Team USA, I loved it. Didn't play much but just loved the atmosphere and everything about it. So it's something I'm considering, too. But I'm definitely open, man. I don't feel like I'm done yet. So I want to keep going.
"I don't feel like I'm done yet."@KoltenWong is open to suiting back up, even if it means doing so internationally. pic.twitter.com/X0T8yKkRtg
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) November 14, 2024
Wong played 67 games for the Mariners in 2023. He hit .165 with two home runs and 19 RBIs. He was released on Aug. 3, 2023, and signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 9 of that year. He played 20 games for the Dodgers and batted .300 with two home runs and eight RBIs.
Wong hasn't appeared in a major league game since. He signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles and was invited to spring training but was later released. He signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 10 but was released by their Triple-A affiliate, the Reno Aces, on May 27.
Wong is a two-time Gold Glove winner with a solid contact tool and 15-home run power, but the 12-year veteran has taken a noticeable decline at the plate since 2022.
Wong could close out his career with a successful stint in Japan. Another former Seattle player, Mike Ford, recently won the Nippon Professional Baseball Japan Series with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
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