This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

TORONTO -- Taylor Trammell was shocked at how heavy the Mariners’ home run trident was when he grabbed it after a first-inning grand slam on Sunday, which sparked a much-needed win. 

“I thought it was going to be plastic, and then I held it and it’s like, ‘Oh my,’ -- you can hurt someone with that thing,” Trammell said, laughing. 

Trammell also had a remarkable catch into the left-field stands at Rogers Centre that saved two runs, after which he got up and flashed his trademark grin. 

The entire day was an encapsulation of the health of the right hamate bone he broke in his right hand at the onset of Spring Training. Making his situation sting more at the time was that it was the day before camp opened and he was so eager to put his re-tooled swing on display. 

Quoting Denzel Washington, Trammell posted to Twitter: “You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That's a part of it.”

“I just said, ‘I’ve got to come back stronger,’” Trammell said. “I just want to be a part of this team and just love it. I love all these guys.”

Nearly three months later, following an offseason of extensive work at Driveline Baseball, a high-tech facility in Kent, Wash., Trammell will have every chance to contribute. The Mariners needed a position player reinforcement due to Julio Rodríguez nursing some lower back tightness and Ty France being under the weather. 

If Rodriguez’s situation lingers, Trammell could see even more time. Neither Rodríguez nor France is expected to be out long, but Trammell offers the club much more defensively than Tommy La Stella, who also hits lefty and has been limited exclusively to DH. Trammell figures to regularly play against righties.

“I’m really happy for him,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said of Trammell. “I talked to him when he came in [on Sunday]. He sat down in my office and I told him: ‘I was so disappointed we didn’t get a chance to see it play out in Spring Training. But I told you that you’d get a shot. Now’s your time. Go do it.’ He’s got the ability to be that kind of game-changing player. We saw it today, and he’s going to get plenty of opportunities going forward.”

Trammell said he was 100% recovered two weeks ago, which led to a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma, where he hit .345/.429/.621 (1.049 OPS) with two homers, two doubles, nine runs and four RBIs over eight games. 

“When he was in my office today, I told him, ‘Go be you,’” Servais said. “He has some edge to him when he plays. He’ll hit a homer and he’ll flip the bat. He’ll do some different things throughout the course of a game. He’s an edgy player and I love it. Show the emotion, our team needs it right now. He was a perfect spark for us today.”

Where does that edge come from?

“It’s kind of how I’m wired,” he said. “I grew up playing football as well. I don’t like to get beat. I always like to just compete. There’s something about competing. For me, it’s just like grit and that ‘no fear’ type of mentality. It’s kind of where that edge comes from.”

Trammell, a 2016 first-round Draft selection by the Reds, was a former MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospect and has shown flashes of potential over parts of the last two seasons. Over 95 games, he’s hit .176/.269/.385 (.655 OPS), and some of his inconsistencies prompted an extensive offseason at Driveline. The Mariners were as eager about his adjustments as any player entering spring. 

“I felt good today,” Trammell said. “I felt comfortable, even on some of the swings and misses. That’s the biggest thing for me right now and just building upon that. It’s being that guy and just continuing to contribute.”