PEORIA, Ariz. -- They say that you never know what you¡¯ll see when you show up to the ballpark on any given day, but that was especially true in Mariners camp this Spring Training, when players were greeted in the Minor League clubhouse by two goats from the Phoenix Zoo one Friday.
Yes, livestock descended upon the desert and out of their natural habitat -- and for a really fun cause.
The goats were brought in as part of the 2025 series of Mariners Commercials -- which the club is calling ¡°digital shorts¡± -- for a skit centered on Ichiro Suzuki in light of the franchise icon recently being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The bit is fittingly called ¡°GOAT Yoga¡± as a play on words for Suzuki being considered among the ¡°Greatest Of All Time¡± -- and the 45-second reel is made-for-viral gold, the ending being the best part, where Suzuki ushers a goat through Seattle¡¯s clubhouse.
The shoot took a little over two hours, involved two cameras and the labor of about a dozen Mariners personnel on site in Arizona as the entire production was done in-house for the second straight year.
As for the livestock procurement, five staff members of the Phoenix Zoo were on hand, and they brought two Nubian goats -- Honey, a female that has a white shade and Nugget, a male that ultimately wasn¡¯t featured and has a brown shade -- to account for potential logistics challenges. But the Mariners scouted up to eight goats via photo correspondence from the zoo.
Essentially, Nugget was the backup goat in case Honey needed to be relieved, but Honey made it all the way through her start for a complete-game shutout -- albeit with a few mid-innings jams along the way. Training goats on a live-action film set, after all, necessitates their cooperation.
Ben Mertens, Mariners vice president of creative and content services, ran point on getting Honey ¡°ready on set,¡± which involved positioning her in the middle of the shot and within a walkway of lockers but also to stay put until Ichiro walked by after the crew yelled ¡°Action!¡±
Mertens laid a small cluster of dry animal food on the ground where Honey was needed then ducked out of the shot and crouched into a locker. But Honey kept following him to spots where she wasn¡¯t supposed to.
Eventually, they created a trail of the food just behind Honey to direct her to the shot they needed, and once there, they had Ichiro get her to follow him as scripted by holding food in his right fist -- but clenched so it wouldn¡¯t be seen on camera.
In total, it took just under a dozen takes to cut this portion.
¡°You never know how anyone's going to perform, whether it's players or goats,¡± Mertens joked. ¡°I think all the performances were really good, but yeah, we had some trial and error to make sure the performances looked good.¡±
As production wrapped, Honey -- whose stage name was ¡°Junior¡± as a nod to Ken Griffey Jr. -- was practically attached to Ichiro and nibbling at his hand even though he was no longer holding food.
¡°I think they were really nervous because they were on set with Ichiro,¡± Mertens said tongue-in-cheek. ¡°I think that's what they had to get over.¡±
Current players featured in the bit -- Julio Rodr¨ªguez, Bryce Miller and J.P. Crawford -- were given a hint to the script¡¯s topic, but were not told that fully grown goats would be on hand.
¡°They said ¡®goat yoga,¡¯ and usually that's like a pygmy goat, like the little goat. And that [dang] thing is like this tall,¡± Miller said, gesturing his hand just below his chest. ¡°I'm like, ¡®That thing ain't laying on top of me. That thing¡¯s heavy.'¡±
Added Crawford: ¡°I was like, ¡®[Shoot], this is a real deal.¡¯¡±
Part of the discretion was by design in an effort to capture raw reactions in real time, which were showcased in separate videos that the Mariners published in tandem with the digital shorts.
¡°The behind-the-scenes really showcases their personalities within those edits as well,¡± said Tim Walsh, the Mariners' senior director of digital marketing and social media. ¡°So that was kind of the reason to keep that a secret to those guys, and they had some fun with it on set.¡±
The Mariners also invited five Minor Leaguers to be extras in the yoga session, all of whom are ranked among their Top 30 prospects by MLB Pipeline. None of them had lines, though, and they were not in full uniform and were aligned in the back rows during the yoga segment to keep the big leaguers more distinguished. But their inclusion offered a glimpse into the future -- perhaps one day it will be them headlining a digital short.
¡°We have such a talented farm system,¡± Walsh said of the group that, collectively, is ranked No. 5 by Pipeline. ¡°And we thought, how can we showcase these guys? ¡ We just thought of it as a fun opportunity to involve them.¡±
Beyond the humor and creativity, it¡¯s the intricate details that make these shorts shine.
There were four videos this season, after their much-anticipated return last year following a five-year hiatus. The Mariners began publishing them on Sunday morning, with one per day in succession through Wednesday -- saving the best for last.
Brainstorming sessions began in the offseason¡¯s early stages, but the Mariners knew that they wanted to highlight Ichiro given that his impending Hall of Fame call would come in January. Once they had concepts, president of business operations Kevin Martinez pitched Ichiro, who was totally on board.
They landed on one that highlighted Ichiro¡¯s meticulous stretching regimen and seasoned leadership that has stayed within the organization to this day as Ichiro now holds the title of special assistant to the chairman -- but who is also a constant presence around the club as a mentor.
¡°The term ¡®GOAT¡¯ kept coming back up in one way or another,¡± Walsh said. ¡°And then we ended up landing on that opportunity to like actually present him as a GOAT. And then we thought, is there a fun way to work in live goats into it, too?¡±
Ichiro has done countless Mariners Commercials through the years, even one last season with Rodr¨ªguez, titled ¡°No Fly Zone¡± that was wildly successful, so this probably won¡¯t be his final rodeo. Because it¡¯s clear that with a digital-first rebrand, these annual clips are here to stay.