Seattle Mariners: Jerry Dipoto is wrong about M’s scoring woes
Chip Clark
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Recently on his radio show, Seattle Mariners President of Baseball Operations, Jerry Dipoto, commented on why the team is having trouble scoring runs. His answer shows how far off track he and the organization are.
When I initially listened to the Jerry Dipoto Show last week, during Brock and Salk on ESPN 710, it was while driving. He said something that almost made me spit my drink out.
So I went back over the weekend and listened to it again; sure enough, it was there. The gist of what I take issue with was that a lineup filled with guys who hit for average won’t score runs.
I’ll get to the actual quote later. The Seattle Mariners have a completely opposite approach now and can’t score runs. So, respectfully sir, you’re mistaken.
Before I get into the meat of where Dipoto and I part company, let me say that I like and respect him. What he’s done for the organization as a whole, from player development to the overall on-field product, has, by and large, worked.
Dipoto is personable and also does a good job of being transparent (to a point). Seattle Mariners fans should appreciate the job he’s done since coming to the Emerald City; I do.
We can agree that Seattle hitters are in a slump. He admitted as much on the show and took some responsibility for the team’s lack of wins this year.
From there, we see things differently.
Wrong approach
What’s going on with the team now isn’t a hitting problem; it’s a contact problem. As in, they don’t make enough solid contact.
Not only do Seattle batters have the second-highest strikeout rate, and four of the five players with the most Ks, but with a .289 batting average on balls put in play (19th), they aren’t doing much when they get a bat on the ball. I don’t need those stats to tell me; I can see it with my own eyes.
Even when M’s batters make contact, it’s weak because they’re either a) taking wild hacks or b) behind in the count and trying to protect the strike zone. The results are getting under a pitch (shallow fly ball), topping it (easy grounder), or hitting a weak line drive.
The offense’s goal is to score runs. To do that, they need to put runners on base and get hits.
When asked about the philosophy of getting players who hit for average, Dipoto replied, “We don’t have a slew of hitters in our league today that perform like an Ichiro, or like a Rod Carew, or like a Luis Arraez, they’re just not a plenty, and I’m not sure if you had eight of those guys, you’d be terribly good at scoring runs.”
This comment shows that the game has changed, but while the Ichiro Suzuki‘s are fewer and farther between, what he did with the Seattle Mariners are goals to strive for, not say they don’t work anymore.
Ichiro wasn’t a big walk guy either, but at the same time, he struck out more than 50 times in a season only once. He made contact and scored over 100 runs in each of his first eight MLB seasons.
This isn’t new from Dipoto.
It Goes Deeper
I went back to the May 18th episode of Dipoto’s show when he said, “We’ve hit an aggregate of roughly.228 over the last three years. We’re not a team that’s going to light you up with batting average, but we are a team that can score runs. We just have to get back to the formula that allows us to do that.” He’s missing something huge.
Their recent past is catching up with the Seattle Mariners, and they are regressing toward the norm. Playoff teams, let alone World Series Champions, don’t hit an aggregate of .228. Even the 1969 New York Mets hit .241 during the regular season.
So I say to you again, Jerry Dipoto, the Seattle Mariners have a contact problem, and it’s systemic. Being okay with batting .228 because guys hit home runs won’t work in the long term.
This is exactly what the 2023 season is showing. With few exceptions, successful teams can’t rely on power alone to generate runs.
When only two regulars, Ty France (.283) and Jarred Kelenic (.265), are batting over .250 and one of them, Kelenic, is at a .230 clip since May 4, while the team can’t score runs, its time to change the dynamic.
Change the Approach
How about getting some hitting coaches that believe in quality contact and driving the ball to the gaps instead of hitting a home run with every swing? That’s what wears down pitchers.
As a matter of fact, the recent rule changes MLB make it advantageous. From cutting down on time between pitches and limiting pick-off throws to eliminating the shift, they work in favor of hitters and base runners.
It’s a simple formula, don’t chase pitches trying to hit 420-foot bombs, make solid line drive contact, get on base, either steal or hit and run to move around the bases, and score some runs.
For clarification, this isn’t a call for the Seattle Mariners to implement a “Moneyball” strategy. But, one of the main points of the book and movie had to do with getting players on base to set up scoring chances.
The Seattle Mariners don’t need “the Greek God of Walks,” Kevin Youklas, but a few more Rod Carew-types would do the trick.
I’m not saying I know more about baseball than Dipoto or Seattle Mariners Manager Scott Servais. I do know that the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
What do you think is the reason why the Seattle Mariners have problems scoring runs?