Third base is not where Ryon Healy expected to begin the 2019 season with the Seattle Mariners.
As the team’s regular first baseman a season ago — he appeared in 131 games there — the 27-year-old spent much of spring training battling to again fill that familiar role.
Then third baseman Kyle Seager was injured midway through March after diving for a ground ball and landing awkwardly on his left hand. Seager needed surgery to repair a tendon in his hand on March 12, and is expected to miss at least several weeks.
So Healy wound up as the team’s starter on Opening Day.