JP Crawford, Seattle Mariners.
For the second time in three months, the Mariners finished a month with a winning record. The 2021 Seattle Mariners were 15-12 in April and repeated the feat in June. Seattle’s final record in June is a bit deceiving. The M’s have won 8-of-11 and 11-of-15 games after starting 3-8. Their big turnaround comes down to a resurgence offensively as the pitching has remained volatile and in many ways, June was worse than May.
The relief corps was especially terrible and while they were 8-5, they finished the month with a 5.33 ERA and only 4 saves. Most of that was on a terrible month from Rafael Montero (11.32 ERA in 11 games) and Will Vest (11.81 ERA in 11 games). However, it was the worst month for Mariner’s relievers combined, though it is misleading. Take away the 27 earned runs given up by Montero and Vest combined, the rest of the bullpen had a 3.64 ERA for the month of June. Starting pitching continued to improve behind the efforts of Yusei Kikuchi, Chris Flexen, and Logan Gilbert. June represented the best month for Mariners starters this season despite averaging 4.9 innings per start.
At the plate, Seattle still struck out at a 28 percent clip for the month of June, which was their worst month. Additionally, they walked less, 7.8 percent than they have in any other month. Despite the bad news, it was still their best hitting month and highest runs per game in a month this season (4.8). Most of this was brought on by a stronger than usual Batting Average Balls In Play (BABIP) at .309. There are reasons to believe that this is sustainable but a lot of that depends on whether the significant improvement with Crawford is real.
This was a no-brainer as the Gold Glove shortstop put up his best offensive month as a Major Leaguer. J.P. Crawford batted .352 for the month, was among the American League leaders in hits, average, OBP, and OPS. His efforts offensively forced M’s manager Scott Servais to move him to the top of the line-up. His numbers as a leadoff hitter gave the Seattle Mariners lineup a spark. When leading off a game Crawford has a .883 OPS and in 26 at-bats only struck out 6 times.
If there was one critique of Crawford, it isn’t his fault though. The Seattle Shortstop was on base 48 times and only scored 17 runs. Lack of run production is a problem that has plagued the Mariners all season. While they have the third-highest slugging percentage with runners in scoring position, they’ve had runners in scoring position the least among all MLB teams. Only Mitch Haniger was close to a 50 percent ratio of on-base/runs scored as he scored 14 times while getting on base 29 times.
Ty France was the runner-up as June’s Offensive MVP. The first/second baseman had a slash line of .276/.357/.510/.867 with 5 home runs and 12 RBI. But it wasn’t close, Crawford ran away from the pack and ended Haniger’s two-month streak of winning the monthly award.
Previous Winner April – Mitch Hanger
Previous Winner May – Mitch Haniger
Essentially it was a three pitcher race for best pitcher in the month of June for the Mariners. Two relievers and a starter. While Chris Flexen had arguably his best month as a major league baseball player, there were three other pitchers that took center stage.
The Nominees are: Yusei Kikuchi, Paul Sewald, Drew Steckenrider
Paul Sewald is a journeyman reliever who features two pitches. The righty throws a four-seam fastball that sits in the low-to-mid 90s and a wipe-out slider. Sewald releases the ball from a unique arm slot, which makes his four-seam fastball less hittable. In June, he was 3-2 with a 2.38 ERA, which is good, but not great numbers. He struck out 19 in 11 innings and only gave up 3 hits with none of them leaving the yard. Maybe more impressive, he finished with a 0.79 WHIP for the month.
After a rough start to June where he allowed three runs, Sewald had a 0.00 ERA in the following 13 appearances. He’s also gone 7.1 innings without giving up a hit. During the streak, only allowed two opponents reached base.
Drew Steckendrider features a mid-90s four-seam fastball. But his out pitches are a curve and change-up that are virtually unhittable. For the month of June, he tied for the team lead in saves (2) had a 1.64 ERA, and a 0.91 WHIP in 11 appearances. Since the start of May, he has only given up earned runs in one outing (June 5th where he gave up 2).
He has had 10 consecutive appearances without giving up an earned run and the only run he did give up in that span was because of the extra-innings runner on second base rule. Steckendrider has also been incredibly consistent, pitching a full inning in all 11 appearances while throwing 20 or fewer pitches every single time.
The final nominee is perhaps the winner of the Seattle Mariners June Pitcher of the Month award. It’s not a slam-dunk though. Yusei Kikuchi started 4 games and won 2 of them. He struck out 26 in 23.2 innings and averaged 5.9 innings per start to lead all Mariners starters.
In addition to his 2-0 record and multiple quality starts, opponent’s batting average against was .181 with an OPS against of .582. Those numbers made for Kikuchi’s best month as a Major League pitcher. Kikuchi struggled with his control in the sixth inning of two of his games resulting in 10 walks after exhibiting pinpoint control in the month of May.
Previous Winner April – Kendall Graveman
Previous Winner May – Justin Dunn
The winners of the award for the month of June are JP Crawford on offense and Yusei Kikuchi for pitchers.
Joe Swenson is a lifelong Seattle Sports Fan, Author, Playwright, Director, and Producer