Playing career
Amateur
Marjama attended Granite Bay High School in Granite Bay, California, and graduated in 2007. He played for the school's baseball team as a second baseman, due to his small size.[1] During his senior year, Marjama had a .414 batting average with only three strikeouts in 109 plate appearances for the school's baseball team.[2]
He enrolled at Sacramento City College to play for their college baseball team. He took a redshirt in his first year, and played for the school's team for two years.[1] He had a .317 batting average in 74 games played across his two seasons with the Sacramento City Panthers,[3] including a .345 batting average in his second season.[4] In 2010, he played collegiate summer baseball for the La Crosse Loggers of the Northwoods League. Marjama batted .286 with two home runs and 37 runs batted in (RBIs) in 69 games played for La Crosse,[5] and was named a Northwoods League All-Star.[4]
Marjama then transferred to California State University, Long Beach, where he played college baseball for the Long Beach State Dirtbags in 2011. As their starting third baseman, he had a .290 batting average in 56 games.[1] In 2011, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[6]
Seattle Mariners
On August 6, 2017, the Rays traded Marjama, along with Ryan Garton, to the Seattle Mariners for Anthony Misiewicz, Luis Rengifo and a player to be named later or cash considerations.[10] The Mariners assigned Marjama to the Tacoma Rainiers of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League after the trade.[3]
Marjama was called up to the majors for the first time on September 1, 2017. He hit his first major league home run on October 1, 2017, against the Los Angeles Angels.[11] He batted 3-for-9 (.333) in five games for the Mariners.[12] Marjama competed with David Freitas for the role as backup catcher in spring training in 2018. Marjama made the Mariners' Opening Day 25-man roster for the 2018 season.[13] Due to an injury to Mike Zunino, Marjama started on Opening Day for the Mariners.[14] When Zunino returned from his injury on April 20, the Mariners optioned Marjama, who had batted 3-for-27 (.111), to Tacoma, while keeping Freitas as Zunino's backup.[15]
Marjama retired from professional baseball on July 6, 2018,[16] to pursue a career with the National Eating Disorder Association. He applied for reinstatement in 2019, but was suspended for 80 games for using a performance-enhancing drug, and served out his suspension with a team before he could be reinstated.[17]
Personal life
Marjama's father teaches science at Rocklin High School.[7] His brother and sister were also athletes at Granite Bay High; Jake played baseball and Abby plays volleyball at the University of Alabama (c/o ‘21).[20] Marjama serves as a substitute teacher during the offseason, working in 10 different junior high schools and high schools, including Granite Bay High.[7][12]
In high school, while losing weight to compete in wrestling, Marjama developed an eating disorder through excessive exercise, causing his weight to drop to 130 pounds (59 kg).[7] He required inpatient treatment and missed baseball in the 2006 season, his junior year.[7] He has spoken openly about eating disorders in men to both adults and teens, and appears in a documentary about his experience on the Uninterrupted multimedia platform for athletes.[7][21][22]
