The Seattle Mariners hitters are setting a new standard in Major League Baseball—one that the team surely does not want.
Through 101 games, the team’s offense has been nothing short of offensive. A .218 team Batting Average, the worst in the league. A .299 team On-Base Percentage, tied for third worst, despite the team being seventh for drawn walks. A league-worst 1,038 strikeouts as a team, averaging over ten per game. They are on pace for over 1,600 strikeouts this season, which would shatter the record held by the 2021 Chicago Cubs. Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Mitch Garver, Mitch Haniger, and Luke Raley have almost as many strikeouts between them as the San Diego Padres do as a team.
Rodriguez, at least, is starting to pull his season up from the nosedive. After hitting just .206 in June, he has rallied to hit .375 in July, pulling his season average up to a team-best .263. Raleigh has become a three-true outcome hitter: striking out, walking, or homering in half his plate appearances. While his 20 home runs lead the team, his .209 batting average is not doing them any favors. Garver has been almost as extreme. In 326 plate appearances, Garver has 100 strikeouts, 12 home runs, and a team-high 42 walks. His On-Base Percentage is over a hundred points higher than his .170 batting average.
Reinforcements from the minor leagues have not improved matters much. Jonatan Clase, Seby Zavala, and Sam Haggerty have all hit below .200 in their limited time with the major league squad. Ryan Bliss has not been much better, hitting .220. First baseman Jason Vosler is hitting well at AAA Tacoma, but his 85 strikeouts in just 350 at-bats are concerning. But first base is a hole, especially after the team non-tendered former All-Star Ty France, ending his four-plus seasons with the team that saw his average drop yearly. Top prospects Cole Young and Harry Ford are still in Double-A ball.
Oddly, advanced metrics are not as low on the team. Despite the waves of strikeouts, the team is fourth best in the league at not chasing pitchers outside the zone (chasing on just 26.3 percent). Their overall swing percentage is also in the top ten, indicating the team is not just swinging at bad pitches. Their swing percentage on balls centered in the strike zone (80.2 percent) is fifth-best as well. The team has the second-highest rate of solid contact (7.4 percent). The percentage of balls considered “hard hit” is third-best in the league (42.1 percent).
The whole picture ends up looking fuzzy. The hitters are patient, swinging to balls in the zone and avoiding chasing bad balls. Yet the contact simply is not there. How much of it is the hitter not finding solid contact, and how much is the batter being unlucky? This is a guessing game. That said, the team is hitting so poorly that luck alone is not a factor.
Whatever the reason may be, the Mariners are sinking fast, and the bats are making for poor paddles.
