Seattle Mariners: Three Stars of Week 14 after M’s go 4-2
Star #3 – Yusei Kikuchi
1-0, 7 innings, 5 hits against, 1 walk, 6 Ks
Yusei Kikuchi earned his first-ever All-Star nod this week and is currently the lone Mariner representative in the All-Star game. The Mariners could be the first team since the 2011 Cincinnati Reds to have a winning record at the All-Star break and have only one representative in the summer classic.
His performance against the Blue Jays, one of the best offenses in the league, was brilliant. Kikuchi worked pitches all around the zone and didn’t get himself hurt in any way throughout the game. He was stung by a lead-off home run from fellow All-Star Marcus Semien and while Semien owned him again later in the game, the veteran southpaw kept the rest of the line-up off-balance and finished the game looking strong.
Watching the Blue Jays side of the broadcast was an eye-opener on how other teams view the Mariners. Kikuchi’s fastball regularly hit 97 to 98 MPH and the announcers remarked early on about how that was surprising and chalked it up to adrenaline. However, when he was still hitting 97 late in the game, they blamed it on old scouting reports.
Yusei Kikuchi was 𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 today 🎨
▪️ 7 IP
▪️ 1 ER
▪️ 5 H
▪️ 6 K #SeaUsRise | #WHEREiROOT pic.twitter.com/6qARqP2AXZ— ROOT SPORTS™ | NW (@ROOTSPORTS_NW) July 1, 2021
Star #2 – J.P. Crawford
.370 avg, .915 OPS, 7 runs scored, 6 game hitting streak
J.P. Crawford has been a hitting machine over the last month and a half and this week was no different. It was his fourth consecutive week batting over .300 and is now hitting .353 since June 1. His 89 hits now rank 11th in the American League and his batting average overall is 20th. His defense is phenomenal despite the number of errors this season. Crawford is the most important part of why Seattle leads the American League in double-plays turned.
For the week Crawford had 10 hits, including two games with three hits. He also hit safely in all six games and has now hit safely in 18 of the last 19 games. More importantly, and a departure from the month of June, Crawford got on base 13 times during the week and scored 7 times (53.8 percent run scored rate). In addition to his fantastic average, his OBP was .433 and he only struck out once during the week (27 at-bats). An impressive performance yet he wasn’t the #1 star this week.
The big question for Crawford is can he keep it up? On May 1, he changed bats. Former Seattle Mariners catcher Jacob Nottingham left a bat for Crawford to use. J.P. liked it so much, he ordered more after going 2 for 3 in a loss to the Angels. While he spent most of May hitting around .250, his contact rate and barrel percentage improved. Starting in June he became a hitting machine. His hot bat carried over into the start of July. Final thought, Crawford was an All-Star snub. Change my mind.
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