The M's slugger hit two home runs on Tuesday as the Mariners beat the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On Sunday, with the Seattle Mariners playing in a must-win game, Dominic Canzone hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning to fuel a victory over the Texas Rangers.
On Tuesday, the M's playing another seemingly must-win game, Canzone hit two separate home runs - both off left-handers - to fuel a 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Canzone hit a solo shot off Justin Wrobleski to tie the game at 5-5 and then hit a two-run homer off Alex Vesia in the eighth to make it 7-5.
For Canzone, he now has a team-leading 18 homers, despite spending much of the first three months in a left-right platoon with Rob Refsnyder and Victor Robles.
Well, the Mariners have realized that Canzone is too invaluable to the lineup now, and they are giving him regular opportunities as an every day player. And he's rewarding them.
For the season, Canzone is hitting .263 with the 18 homers, 49 RBIs and an .863 OPS. For a team that is 28th in the league in OPS, he is the exception. And he's gone from a platoon bat hitting in the bottom third of the order to a true middle-of-the-order presence.
And as noted by Jordan Shusterman of Yahoo! Sports, he is in an extremely rare group over the last two seasons:
Shusterman notes that Canzone is one of just six players to have a 140 wRC+ or greater in each of the last two seasons (250 plate appearance minimum), joining Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Nick Kurtz and Kyle Schwarber.
That's about as good as it gets, considering Ohtani and Judge both won MVP's last season.
Now 28 years old, Canzone is in his fourth major league season with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Mariners. The M's acquired him in the 2023 deal that sent Paul Sewald to Arizona and brought Canzone and Ryan Bliss to Seattle.
He hit .300 last season with 11 home runs in 243 at-bats. He has a .333 on-base percentage this year, which is above his career average of .313.
Canzone and the M's will get another chance at the Dodgers on Wednesday night at 7:10 p.m. PT. Emerson Hancock is on the mound against left-hander Eric Lauer.
The Mariners enter play at 53-55 and in third place in the American League West, but they are just 2.5 games back of the Texas Rangers. They are also just 1.5 games back of the Cleveland Guardians in the battle for the third wild card spot.
Of note
The latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast, featuring Seattle Mariners Insider Jason Churchill of 'Baseball Things' is out now. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.
