Seattle Mariners: 5 lessons learned from an unexpectedly good 2020 season
Yoshihasi Hirano, Seattle Mariners.
Spend on the pen
In the modern game, starters don’t often go more than six or seven innings. Now more than ever, quality relief pitching is crucial. The Seattle Mariners learned that lesson the hard way in 2020.
It didn’t help manager Scott Servais that Carl Edwards Jr., Matt Magill, and Austin Adams all missed significant time with injuries. What remained was a hodge-podge of has-beens and never were pitchers. How bad was the Seattle Mariners bullpen? These numbers tell the sad story.
- 212 innings pitched – 20th in MLB
- 13 relief losses – 22nd
- .258 batting average against – 26th
- 8.29 strikeouts per 9 innings – 26th
- 1.56 WHIP – 27th
- 0.79 ground ball outs to fly ball outs ratio – 27th (nobody ever hit a home run on a ground ball)
- 5.92 ERA – 28th
- 23 batters hit by a pitch – T29th
- 5.08 walks per 9 innings – 30th
- 49 percent of inherited runners scored – 30th (Colorado was next to last at 39 percent)
- -5.3 wins above replacement – 30th
That last number really stings. For a team that finished two games out of a playoff spot, they dropped over five games more than they would have league average relief pitching.
The only Seattle Mariners reliever with an ERA under 3.00 with double-digit innings pitched was Rule- 5 pickup Yohan Ramirez (2.61). Meanwhile, six Seattle relief pitchers with double-digit innings pitched had an ERA over 5.00, including two that were over 6.10.
The two most demoralizing things a team faces during the season, especially a young one, are losing leads and getting blown out. Both of those things happened with the group of relievers Seattle used in 2020. It’s a necessity for DiPoto to bring in a few quality arms to bolster the bullpen.