Report: Mariners sign Ishikawa to minor-league deal

After eight big-league seasons with five clubs, first baseman Travis Ishikawa just might have a chance to come home.

The Mariners reached an agreement with Ishikawa, a Federal Way native, on a minor-league deal, according to multiple reports.

Club officials cautioned that a completed deal was not yet in place.

Ishikawa, 32, spent last season playing for San Francisco, Pittsburgh and three minor-league clubs. He batted .206 in 44 major-league games with one homer and eight RBIs.

One report indicates that Ishikawa’s deal includes an invitation to Seattle’s big-league camp and will pay him $900,000 if he spends the entire season in the majors.

A left-handed hitter, Ishikawa has a .255/.321/.391 split (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) in 1,050 career plate appearances over 488 games.

He has 23 homers and 137 RBIs.

Ishikawa helped lead Federal Way High School to the 2001 Washington 4A championship and to the title game in 2002. San Francisco then drafted him in the 21st round and swayed him from Oregon State with a $955,000 signing bonus.

That bonus, at the time, was the highest given to a player not selected in the first round.

Ishikawa reached the majors in 2006 but could never achieve full-time duty and often was sent back to the minors. He signed with Milwaukee as a free agent after the 2011 season.

Other stops included the New York Yankees and Baltimore along with time in the minors in the Chicago White Sox organization.

SALARY FIGURES

Relievers Charlie Furbush and Evan Scribner received similar raises in one-year agreements reached Friday that precluded the possibility of salary-arbitration hearings.

Furbush, 29, got a $300,000 raise to $1.6 million, and Scribner, 30, got a $295,000 boost to $807,500.

Both players reached agreements just prior to the deadline for players and clubs to exchange salary-arbitration proposals.

The two deals came a day after the Mariners reached agreement with center fielder Leonys Martin, their only other arbitration-eligible player, on a one-year contract for $4.15 million.

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 10:28 PM with the headline "Report: Mariners sign Ishikawa to minor-league deal."