Seattle Mariners bats are worse than we thought but there is a fix
The Fix
Much can be inferred about the ballpark factor at T-Mobile early in the season. If 100 is even, a score over 100 favors hitters; under 100 means it’s a pitcher’s park. According to Baseball-Reference, T-Mobile park is at 93 this season.
Unfortunately, ballpark factor doesn’t account for strikeouts. Seattle batters strikeout 30 percent of the time, fourth-worst in MLB. That means it doesn’t matter where they play; this lineup is junk. The Seattle Mariners’ goal at this point should be to load the top of the line-up with players that can get on base in any possible fashion.
The #Mariners homestead against the Tigers is a flat, out disgrace. 0.66 hits for every one strikeout is clearly the worst in the MLB.
— Jim Mullin 🇺🇦 (@Jim_MullinTV) May 20, 2021
This is definitely going to be an unconventional approach. Actually, it’s borrowing from a page out of Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Madden’s playbook. Load the top of the line-up with the best on-base hitters and see what the trickle-down effect is.
Don’t worry too much about lefty-righty; that’s clearly not working anyway. Just get players who can reach base as many times as possible and go from there.
Top-loading
If Servais can’t create a line-up like this, he needs to be shown the door because the one he keeps using gets no-hit by terrible pitchers. Here’s what the line-up should be when everyone is healthy.
- Ty France – .333 OBP
- JP Crawford – .317 OBP
- Kyle Lewis – .333 OBP
- Mitch Haniger – .309 OBP
- Kyle Seager – .298 OBP
- Dylan Moore – .270 OBP
- Sam Haggerty – .241 OBP
- Jarred Kelenic – .233* OBP
- Tom Murphy – .183 OBP
*Sample size might be too small to consider him in the ninth spot yet.
I know it looks crazy, but if the Seattle Mariners can get more players on base, more often, then they can take advantage of their strengths, batting average with runners on base and runners in scoring position.