Mariners look for Tuiasosopo to show hitting touch

PEORIA, Ariz. – One of the biggest attributes Matt Tuiasosopo has provided the Seattle Mariners the last two years is versatility. He played six different positions for Seattle in 2010.

But in what looms as a potential make-or-break season for the player who was the team’s top pick in the 2004 draft (in the third round), the Mariners have asked Tuiasosopo to focus for the rest of the spring on left field and first base.

Tuiasosopo said he was informed of the new plan in a recent meeting with manager Eric Wedge.

“They just talked to me the other day and told me that they wanted me to concentrate on those two positions,” he said.

Tuiasosopo said he will still take a few balls at third base, but that the goal is to get “more confident and comfortable over there in covering those two positions.”

Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said Tuiasosopo’s days of being a jack-of-all-trades aren’t necessarily over.

“That’s a decision from now to the end of camp,” he said. “We’ll see where it takes us. He’s a right-handed bat and that would be a nice thing to have in our lineup. And if he produces and becomes the player that we all thought he was going to be and becomes a pretty good offensive player for us, then versatility would help us in some areas that he can play, certainly would be a benefit to him and us.”

But Zduriencik said having Tuiasosopo concentrate on first and left is “more of a need right now, it’s more where we see him fitting in.”

Tuiasosopo, younger brother of former UW football players Marques and Zach Tuiasosopo, has been a standout of the past two Mariner spring trainings but has struggled to translate that success to the regular season. He has a .176 average in 71 career games – .173 in 50 games and 127 at-bats last season.

With the team again starting over, under Wedge, and the Mariners not seeming to lack for veteran options to fill the utility player role, many observers have surmised this might be Tuiasosopo’s last chance to make a mark.

He has one option left on his contract, meaning he can be sent down to Tacoma and brought back up to the big club. But if the option is used, then he has no more contract flexibility with the Mariners beyond 2011 (meaning he couldn’t be sent down without being exposed to other teams).

When Tuiasosopo was drafted in 2004, the Mariners said they envisioned him as a future shortstop, or maybe at second or third base. And when he made the Opening Day roster in 2009, it was in large part because of his versatility to play the middle and corner infield and outfield.

Tuiasosopo played nine games last year at first base, two at second, 12 at third, six at shortstop, 14 at left field and one at designated hitter.

He has prided himself on that ability to play everywhere but said cutting down his immediate responsibilities may help. “I get to focus a little more on two positions instead of four or five,” he said.

Tuiasosopo, who turns 25 in May, came to camp with high hopes, feeling as healthy as he had in a while. He said he was bothered most of last season by a lingering elbow injury (he initially had surgery in 2009). He had further surgery last October, and it appears to have finally solved his elbow problems.

He hasn’t had many opportunities to show that, with just seven at-bats in the first 10 games, going 2 for 7 with two RBI.

M’s beat Giants

Jason Vargas threw three scoreless innings in his first start of the spring, allowing two hits and a walk, as the Mariners beat the San Francisco Giants 1-0 in Peoria, Ariz.

Seattle scored its lone run when Ryan Langerhans tripled in Justin Smoak, who had walked, in the fourth inning.

• The Mariners beat the Dodgers 7-1 in a six-inning “B” game in Glendale, Ariz. Milton Bradley, Alex Liddi and Dustin Ackley all homered for Seattle. Luke French started for the Mariners and gave up one run on five hits in two innings. The game is not official and the stats don’t count.