Seth Smith, platoon veteran, will embrace whatever role M’s give him

New Mariners outfielder Seth Smith has 2,821 career plate appearances, with all but 472 coming against right-handed pitchers. (AP)

If anybody is familiar to being a platoon player, it’s Seth Smith.

The veteran outfielder has more or less made his living playing in time-shares – in seven full MLB seasons with the Rockies, Athletics and Padres, the left-handed hitting Smith has 2,821 plate appearances, and all but 472 have come against right-handed pitchers. It’s worked well for him, as he has a career OPS of .800 and has driven in at least 40 runs in each of the last six years despite reaching 400 at-bats just twice in that span.

It’s expected that the Mariners, who traded reliever Brandon Maurer to San Diego for Smith on Tuesday, will use Smith as one-half of a platoon with Justin Ruggiano in right field next season, and if that’s the case Smith has no qualms.

“I like to think that anything I’m asked to do I would be able to figure out a way to do it,” Smith said in a conference call with Seattle media members Wednesday. “Ultimately it’s up to them what they want to do with me, and I’m gonna embrace whatever role I’m given.”

Despite facing mostly righties, Smith was arguably the best hitter for an offensively-challenged Padres team in 2014, finishing the campaign with a .266 average, .367 on-base percentage, .808 OPS, 12 home runs and 48 RBIs. New general manager A.J. Preller has made San Diego baseball’s busiest organization this offseason trying to improve that offense, and it’s resulted in a glut of outfielders after Matt Kemp, Justin Upton and Wil Myers were all acquired in separate trades. So even with last season’s success in his back pocket, Smith could see the writing on the wall that his tenure in San Diego was about to end, even though the 32-year-old signed a two-year, $13 million contract extension in July.

“Obviously I paid attention to what the Padres were doing, and a lot of time you can put two and two together,” he said. “You never know what’s gonna happen, but you can give yourself a pretty good idea of what may happen … I knew I may get traded but I didn’t know if I would or wouldn’t, so I just kinda tried to enjoy the offseason, get my work in and not worry about it.”

As for his new team, Smith saw the Mariners up close in two seasons with Oakland, so he’s no stranger to their rise to contender status in the American League.

“I got to see first-hand for 2012 and 13, and they’ve always been a club that’s right there. We never liked playing them when I was with Oakland,” he said. “You got a pitching staff like that and some young position players and you add the new guys they’ve gotten recently – we’re gonna be a good team. It’s definitely exciting when you go to a team that’s heading in the right direction.”