Seattle Mariners Takes – One week in and pretty OK
Just over a week into the new baseball season and the Seattle Mariners are doing okay. Our Chris Phillips gives his unique take on the M’s start.
The MLB season is officially a week old. Meaning Seattle Mariners baseball is back. We’re going to look at some unique and unexpected things about the M’s. But first off, if you’d have told me that, to this point, the Cincinnati Reds have the best offense, I’m not sure that I would have believed you. There are a few other teams that I think would have been at the top. I mean, the Reds are playing five third basemen in the field: Mike Moustakas (3B), Eugenio Suarez (SS), Jonathan India (2B), Nick Senzel (CF), and Nick Castellanos (RF).
Ah, the beginning weeks of the MLB season are always so much fun because sometimes what is expected isn’t happening just yet. But like all MLB seasons, the “cream rises to the top.” So, let’s look at the first two series of M’s baseball. They’re currently .500 after going 2-1 against the San Francisco Giants, 1-2 against the Chicago White Sox, and 1-1 against the Minnesota Twins. So, let’s look closer at the M’s and maybe some things that you may have overlooked or not be aware of.
Mariners Debut’s
Chris Flexen was flexing on the Giants in his debut! Going five innings, facing 20 batters, and throwing 94 pitches. He struck out six, walked two, generated three ground balls and nine fly balls. Allowing only four hits and, most importantly, not allowing any runs. We’ll see how he fares in his next start, but Flexing Flexen looks like he might be GM Jerry Dipoto’s latest found hidden gem.
Taylor Trammell also made his major league debut. His wasn’t to the same level as Flexen’s. Currently, Trammell is only batting .136. But he doesn’t appear lost or floundering at the plate. He’s worked seven walks against his 14 strikeouts. So, he seems to have some control of the strike zone, compared to, say, Evan White. It’s a very important aspect of hitting that not all rookies utilize so quickly. And he just hit his first major league home run.
“Veterans” Struggling
Before the Seattle Mariners put him on the Injured List with a left hamstring strain, Jake Fraley was having a unique season. In his 10 at-bats, he only has one hit, with three strikeouts. But he also has one double, RBI, and a stolen base, along with two runs scored. Oh, and EIGHT walks. That gives Fraley an OBP of .526. Subsequently, it’s better than Ty France and Mitch Haniger. However, both France and Haniger are more productive with the bat.
Until the White Sox series, Evan White was hitting .230, a major improvement from last year. He’s been able to score three runs and drive in three RBI’s, but it does come with zero walks and seven strikeouts. What the difference a series can make. In White’s defense, two of the three White Sox starters he faced are high strikeout pitchers.
Add in that he’s currently day-to-day with left quad tightness, and the injuries for the M’s are mounting. Hopefully, White doesn’t need to miss much or any time.
The Big Ash
Well, that didn’t take long. Free agent signee James Paxton made it 1 and 1/3 of an inning before injuring himself with a left forearm strain. Does anyone know what the betting line was for Paxton going on the IL? I was critical of this signing by Dipoto for two big reasons: 1) Paxton’s starts will take away valuable development time from the youngsters, and 2) Paxton will miss time, lots of it.
It’s just a fact of life, like water being wet and the sky being blue. The Big Maple is more like the “Big Ash Tree” (I see this somehow being developed into the “Big Ashtray”). Ash trees are very brittle, just like Paxton. But I digress.
Bullpen
While we’re on the topic of pitchers, closer Rafael Montero had a disastrous M’s debut but has rebounded nicely. Until today when he blew his second save opportunity. I’ll admit that due to his spring training and debut, I was concerned that something might be wrong with Montero. Maybe that our bullpen is cursed. Speaking of the bullpen, so far, it’s been better than last year. However, that isn’t saying much. The pen was doo-doo in 2020.
As previously mentioned, Montero looks to be a good closer, for now. Possibly the best since Edwin Diaz. Kendal Graveman was nasty in his first appearance. The second wasn’t the same, but still, he got the outs. He also picked up the “W” on Saturday. So, maybe he’s the closer-to-be.
Anthony Misiewicz, one of the team’s most used arms has been up to the challenge. Arguably the worst bullpen arm is Keynan Middleton. Maybe he needs that secret sticky stuff he used to have while with the Angels. Most of the other pen arms have all experienced one bad outing but otherwise been good. My dark horse candidate to be the closer is Drew Steckenrider. Even after his disastrous appearance Friday night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI2ivWdpqKQ
That’s all the crazy and uniqueness I can think of that’s worth noting. Please share with me anything that you think is worth noting. Baseball is a crazy game of numbers. Let’s hope the most important number, wins, is high enough to get the M’s in the playoffs.