Mariners’ Jack Wilson adjusts to life at second base

PHOENIX – Jack Wilson has played two games for the Seattle Mariners at second base, hardly enough for anyone to gauge how good he can be on the other side of the bag after a career solely at shortstop.

Wilson, who started at second Wednesday in the Mariners’ 9-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, hasn’t faced any major challenges like a runner barreling into him on a double-play turn, a ball deep into the hole or a popup far down the right-field line.

But he’s going to get more work at the position this month as manager Eric Wedge looks for the infield combination that fits best on a team with two stellar defensive shortstops.  Besides Wilson there’s also newly acquired Brendan Ryan, an accomplished shortstop who also is seeing time at second base.

“It’s new, it’s different,” Wilson said. “They’re taking a look at guys everywhere and they want to see different combos. I’m asking a lot of questions so I don’t mess up and look too bad.”

All of Wilson’s 1,219 major league games have been at shortstop, but he’s a willing participant in this experiment and he was hardly surprised when Wedge pitched his plan to him.

“It made sense,” Wilson said. “With Wedge coming in, he wants to give the team the best chance to win. With Brendan Ryan coming over, he’s a fantastic shortstop. It’s a really nice problem to have when you’ve got two guys who can play short. I wasn’t surprised at all.”

There are nuances about the position that Wilson must get comfortable with – footwork coming across the bag, the angle of the ball off the bat – but one thing stunned him the moment he fielded his first ground ball there.

There’s way more time to make the shorter throw to first base than he has at shortstop.

“Its really strange,” he said. “I’m kind of a fiery, fidgety guy. It’s going to take me a while to get used to calming down and making a nice throw over to first.

“There are a lot of little things that you don’t really pick up over at short.”

Notes

Wedge said he hadn’t decided if Felix Hernandez will start Saturday’s game against Oakland or pitch a morning B game. The Mariners’ printed pitching schedule listed Blake Beavan as the starter against the A’s. … Right-hander Chris Ray threw a simulated inning Wednesday morning as he comes back from a sore calf. “We’ll see how he comes off that and either simulate another game or get him into a real game,” Wedge said.