Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Has J.P. Crawford Turned the Corner?

Episode Date: June 9, 2021

Is this the first time an episode of Locked On Mariners has been titled with a direct question? I don't remember... Anyways, one of the bright spots in yesterday's loss in Detroit was shortstop J.P. Crawford. He's been coming on strong lately, and D.C. dives into his numbers to illustrate how much better his offense has been lately. Taylor Trammell has also been doing much better since his recall, and D.C. looks into his stats as well. As for the game, it was frustrating for multiple reasons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Locked-on Mariners, the host fails to come up with anything funny for the cold open, so he wastes the first 10 seconds of the show. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Week is more than halfway done, ladies and gentlemen. It is Wednesday afternoon, and I am D.C. Lundberg, welcoming you to yet another edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network brought to you by the locker room.

Please remember to download rate and follow this program on whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast or any program here on the Locked-on podcast network. Very easy to do. All you got to do is say,

hey, smart device, play Locked-on Mariner's podcast, play Locked-on anything podcast, any of the programs here on the Locked-on podcast network. Yesterday's game, last night's game, rather was rather frustrating. Marco Gonzalez had pretty tough first inning. Second inning was better, but still not great. His location was off, particularly in the first. Not necessarily with the base on balls, but he caught way too much of the plate with his pitches.

Rather than pitching up and down inside and out, he was more near the middle of the plate than he wanted to be than he intended, and he got hit. The subsequent innings were better, but he always. only winds up going four innings, giving up five hits total, four runs, they were all earned, one walk, a home run, and two strikeouts. 71 pitches for Marco. He is still not stretched out after coming back off, or coming off the disabled list, rather. And the target was about 70 pitches, and he was only able to last four innings because of that. Yaxel Rios relieved him, and he was remarkably unimpressive. This is the first chance I had to watch him, and he did not

look good. One inning pitched, three hits, one run. I'm amazed he didn't walk anybody. He throws hard, but he's got location problems, however. If not for all the injuries to the pitching staff, he wouldn't even be in the Mariners organization. They had to acquire him for depth. And he's just, he's not a major league pitcher gang. He's got the stuff. He's got the fastball. Does not have the command he needs to be an effective arm in the major leagues. Kendall Graveman is on a rehab with the Tacoma Rainiers, that was announced yesterday. Hopefully some of these pitchers that are at the Major League level with the Mariners will be able to go back to AAA when some of the more reliable arms are able to come back,

chief among them Mr. Graveman, who was absolutely lights out before going on the disabled list. And it was also another bad day for the Mariner offense as far as I'm concerned. They had runners on base most of the game, but they couldn't finish anything, really. They couldn't cash it in. four hits, pardon me, eight hits, and four walks. Ty Frant was hit by two pitches. They had the bases loaded with no one out in the eighth inning, and they only were able to cash in two runs because of a double play.

They left nine men stranded. Tigers only left six, and I think that was the difference in the ball game. Also the first inning from Marco Gonzalez. If he pitched a little bit better, if he had his command, then it would be a different story. But I think the real story here, is the fact that the Mariners did leave nine men on base at the end of innings, while the Tigers only left six and the Tigers win by two runs.

The Mariners were two for 12 with runners in scoring position, but they also ran into a little bad luck. There were two great, rangy plays in the outfield by Akeel Bedou in left field and Derek Hill in center. Both of those outs could have easily been base hits, if not extra base hits. There was also a great double play turned in by third baseman Isaac Paradis on a sharp line drive. I believe it was after France had been hit with the pitch. He was on first, and I don't remember who hit the ball.

But it was a sharp line drive, and Perides caught it very quickly threw on to first base, about as quickly as humanly possible, and France was not able to get back to the bag. It was close, but the mayors did not challenge the play, and the double play stood. Frustrating game overall, the offensive ineptitude, the bad luck also that the offense ran into, and also Marco's control problems in the first couple of innings. Yeah, what can you do, gang? Chris Flexson versus Casey Mize this afternoon. Mize did face the Mariners back in Seattle during the previous series, and we're going to talk more about that pitching matchup at the end of the show. And coming up of the next couple of segments,

we're going to continue talking a little bit about this game. I will also be singing the praises of J.P. Crawford. But right now we have the trivia corner and this hall pass. This gentleman enjoyed a 16-year Major League career as a corner outfielder in the 1970s and 80s. He posted a 298, 352-fellow 502 slash line. He hit 373 doubles and 382 home runs. 1,451 runs batted in. He led to the league in his league in his. once, in triples once, and home runs three times, an RBI twice, and in total bases four times. He struck out a lot for the era, however. Today would be considered average or even a little better than average. He was an eight-time All-Star, a two-time Silver Slugger. He has one

MVP award and received MVP votes in three other seasons, including two third-place finishes. Do you out there in podcast land think those are Hall of Fame credentials? I will tell you exactly who that is after this word from the locker room. This episode is brought to you by the locker room. As I just mentioned, locker room is the first social audio platform made for sports fans. The app is free to download. And once you're in, you can talk with me, other fans, athletes, and insiders in real time about your favorite team or sport. I will be hosting locker rooms for Locked on Mariners once per week.

Locker room is the perfect place to start or join conversations about the league. You'll find fans on there just like yourself for watch parties, debates, postgame breakdowns, and of course reacting to big news or rumors. Download the free locker room app currently available for all iOS devices with a beta version for Android, for Android, pardon me. Be sure to create a profile and join the MLB group for the latest league updates. Follow me at Lockdown Manor to be notified when my room goes live. Locker room changing the way we talk.

Talk about sports. The Hall Pass subject today, ladies and gentlemen, is indeed a Hall of Famer, but he had to stick around the ballot all 15 years. He used up his entire eligibility and then just barely squeaked in on the last ballot. And then as Red Sox left fielder Jim Rice, the 1978 American League MVP, a season where he hit 315, led the league with a 600 slugging percentage, led the league with 213 hits, 15 triples, 46 home runs, 139 runs batted in, and also 406 total bases. 25 doubles that season.

He hit 39 doubles the next season. He never led the league in doubles. In those 46 home runs, we're a career high for Mr. Rice. Coming up, what's up with Shed Long Jr.? I don't know, but I'll text him after the show to see how he's doing. His guinea pig, Little Miss Pink nose, has been under the weather lately. He's been a little touchy about it, so I've just been giving him some space. But I'll talk to him. I'll talk to him.

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Continuing to talk about last night's game, this was Shed Long Jr.'s first game of the season. He came off the 60-day injured list and started at second base. Hitting sixth in the lineup, I want to say. I really should have looked at that. In any case, I thought he looked good. I thought his bat speed and timing looked pretty good. He put some good swings on the ball.

How many more times am I going to? say the word good, hopefully none. He went one for four with a run scored. He did ground into that rally killing double play in the eighth. Bases loaded no one out. Did, almost had drove in a run on that play, a run scored on that play. But when a run scores on a double play, the batter is not given credit for a run batted in. Tramel also followed with an RBI double right after that.

But that double play still seemed to kill the momentum in that inning. However, it is really good to see Mr. Longback. and seemingly back to his 2019 self, rather than the way he was last year, I'm willing to bet that last year was affected by that leg injury. Or at least, I'm hoping that's the case, at least. Curious as to why he was at second base, however, and Donovan Walton was in left field. Long has much more experience as an outfielder than Sunshine Superman does, and Mr. Walton is a minor league gold glove award winner at shortstop. He's a tremendous middle infielder.

Mr. Walton's arm also, it looks weak for an outfielder, even for a left fielder. But I can wager a guess as to why that was the case. Mr. Long is still being considered as the long-term second baseman. Maybe they want him to play second base because of that, even if that means moving a great defender out of position. Mr. Walton does not figure into the Mariners' long-term plans as a starter, but he's a very valuable utility guy. but I'm not sure he's outfield material.

He looks rough out there, and he has an infielder's arm, and I can speak from experience on this one. When I would play, I was an infielder. I had an infielder's arm. I mostly played first base just because that's where I got the most practice, but I could also play a pretty good third base, and I can whip the ball across the infield pretty well. When playing the outfield, even left field, my arm was really short.

I could not, I had a lot of trouble, getting the ball from left field, even back to the second baseman, Walton seems to have the same thing. He has an infielder's arm not suitable for the outfield. I'm not taking anything away from his infield defense, which is spectacular. But I just don't think he has the skill set necessary to play the outfield. Taylor Tremel, I want to talk about Mr. Tremel a little bit. Since his recall, he has played seven games and is slashing 280, 333,

5.20. He has three doubles and a home run among his seven hits. So among his seven hits, four of them have gone for extra bases. His batting average has gone from 157 to 185 in those seven games. And his strikeout percentage has vastly improved. Seven strikeouts in 25 at batts, that's 28%. In his first stint, prior to his demotion, 41 strikeouts in 83 at bats, that's 40. 49.4% almost half of his at-bats. That is spectacularly bad. He really figured something out in the minor leagues, ladies and gentlemen, and he plays a very good center field. I know it's only seven games, but the results are way better.

He might not only be an adequate replacement in Kyle Lewis's stead, but he might be a very good replacement in Mr. Lewis's stead. Does this improvement after coming back for the minors bode well for Jared Kelnick when he comes back up? Yeah, yeah, it does. But they're different hitters. And again, I've said this on the show before. I'm not worried about Mr. Kelnik.

I've never been worried about Mr. Kelnik. This is just the beginning for him. If he were 28 and had been in the league five years, I'd be worried. But that's not the case. He's barely old enough to enjoy a doppelbach with his teammates after a game. He's got time. He'll be fine.

If you have a question or a comment, please email. it to Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com, and I will reply to it on the air in a future mailbag episode. Questions and comments on any subject whatsoever are encouraged, highly encouraged at that. Does not need to be about the Mariners, does not need to be about baseball or sports, for that matter. Anything at all, send it into Locked-on Mariners at Gmail.com. Coming up, has a member of the Tigers coaching staff been arrested on suspicion of a series of arson fires in Gross Point, dating back to the late 70s? No, no, no, he has.

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Bet Online, your online sports book experts promo code, Locked On. Welcome back to Locked On Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Those were the dulcet tones of Locked on Mariners announcer Joey Martin. Big thank you to him once again. Some show notes before we get into the third segment, ladies and gentlemen. tomorrow's show, not going to be an afternoon show. It's going to be an early evening show.

And it'll be covering both this afternoon's game and Thursday morning's game. It's a 10.10 a.m. start time. And that's generally when I start preparing each day's episode. So I'm going to watch the game and then do an episode covering two games, which will leave no game to cover on Friday. Also on Friday, I will not be available to record. However, I'm pretty sure we're still going to have a Friday show.

show. I've been looking for a guest host. I think I've got it covered. I will know by this evening whether or not I do have it covered, but the show will have been published by that time. So I will let you know for sure on tomorrow night's program whether or not we will have a Friday show. But I would be surprised, honestly, if we did not. Anyways, the one player who really stood out to me yesterday afternoon is J.P. Crawford. He went three for four with a walk, made a great play at shortstop to rob someone of a base hit. I forget who has. it was, might have even been a double, kind of a leaping type catch. Very good play for Mr. Crawford.

In 10 games batting lead off this season, he's been doing very well. 359, 400, 564 slash line, eight strikeouts and 39 at bats. That's a strikeout percentage of 20.5%. In all other spots in the lineup, ladies and gentlemen, a 253, 314, 341, 341. one slash line. Similar strikeout right, however, and actually a little bit less, in 18.2% of his bat. He did well in the number six spot also in nine games there. He slashed 323, 364, 484, much higher on base percentage from the leadoff spot. However, when leading off a ball game, first at that of the ball game, he's only slashing 222, 30, 556. He has a lot. He has,

one home run from the leadoff spot, which accounts for that high slugging average. So those numbers could improve, but overall from the leadoff spot, he's doing very well. And I like him better hitting leadoff than Mitch Hanager. Manninger strikes out too much for me to be a leadoff hitter, 26% for this season. From the leadoff spot, Manninger was slashing 252, 30512, and that's over 32 games. In the other 27 games he's played, he's been in the number two spot, and he has slashed 259, 304, 500. Very similar numbers, and the strikeout percentage is almost identical. The difference is hundreds of a percent, so there's really no difference. Crawford, though,

has become a very versatile hitter. If you pitch him inside, he can pull it with authority for a double or even a home run. If you pitch him away, he'll take it the other way for a single or even a hustle double if he serves it over the infield. He hits the a ball where it is pitched, something Scott's service has been stressing for a couple of months now. J.P. Crawford's been doing that all season after getting off to a very bad start. After that, he's been much better, and he hits both right-handed pitching and left-handed pitching. Actually, the stats versus right-handed pitching aren't there this season. 221 average versus right-handed pitching 308 on base and a 331 slugging versus left-handed

pitchers, however, a slash line of 370, 395, 479. All three of his home runs have come against right-handers, but eight of his 14 doubles have come against left-handers. As the season progresses, I think those numbers will even out a little bit. Remember, J.P. Crawford, not a switch hitter, but a left-handed pitcher. And so I expect those numbers versus lefties to fall a little bit, and I expect those numbers against righties to rise, but if he can hit left-handers at all, then he'll be a very valuable lead-off hitter going forward. Over his last 15 games, he is slashing 345, 397, 582. And over his last seven games, that slash line is at 462, 500, 769. He has really been coming on strong lately, ladies and gentlemen. His strikeout percentages and

Both of those stretches are pretty much the same as his season strikeout percentage. And since May 1st, which is, you know, a fairly large sample size, he is slashing 289, 353, 446, with a strikeout percentage of 18.2%. 10 of his 14 doubles have come since May 1st, also all three of his home runs. He's become an asset offensively. He still needs to work on throwing the first base on defense, but his hands are very good, his range is great, and he looks nice and smooth turning the double play. I dare say that he has finally turned the corner.

But can he sustain it for the full season, which was the question that came up in the second half of 2019, which was supposed to be answered last year. But with last year's shortened season, it couldn't be answered. This year is the test. And I know I've said that on the show before as well. Let's see if he can sustain that for the rest of the season. Tonight's pitching matchup is Chris Flexen versus Casey Mize. Casey Mize pitched in Seattle on May 17th, and boy, was he good.

Seven and two-thirds innings. Three hits, one run it was earned. He did walk three. He struck out seven. That one run he gave up, by the way, was a home run. And if you want to include that start among his last four, in those last four starts, he has an earned run average of only 208. in 26 innings pitched, only four walks.

And that three of them came against the Mariners. Six runs, 16 hits, 26 strikeouts, but five home runs. So that is something maybe the Mariners can take advantage of. Might be a rough afternoon of the ballpark for the Mariners' offense once again, since Casey Mize is in something of a hot streak right now seemingly. And Chris Flexen will be opposing him. This will be the first time that he's facing Detroit this season. for the season. He has a 470 earned run average with a record of 5 and 3, a whip of 1.416, which is on the high side.

Still too many hits per 9 innings at 10.9. Walks per 9 innings for Flex and are way down from his career numbers. 1.8 per 9 this season versus 4.8 for his career. In the 53 and 2 3rds he is pitched, he's allowed 6 home runs, 11 walks, and he struck out 33. In his last start, which was against Oakland in Seattle, pardon me, he went six innings, allowed seven hits and five runs, also a home run, walked one, and struck out three. Through a season high, 98 pitches. That was a six to nothing loss. And that'll just about do it for this one, ladies and gentlemen. Again, tomorrow's show will be an early evening show covering both this afternoon's ball game and tomorrow morning's ball game. Just as Sheffield going for the Mariners tomorrow morning, Tigers still have not announced their pitcher at the time of this recorded.

However, tomorrow, to help me talk about both of those games, will be Bailey Quarters, Astro, and a pair of pruning shears. Gang, is Cisco Morris still doing those gardening spots on TV in Seattle? I always liked the way he used to say, you gotta prune those roses. People who've never been to Seattle have no idea what I'm talking about. In any case, remember to download rate and follow along. Locked-on Mariners, even if your Cisco

Morris, look for us in any podcasting app you can think of. Leave a rating and review of your podcasting app of choice so allows. Also, congratulations in retirement to former first-round draft pick, Riley Pint, who announced his retirement from professional baseball

yesterday. He had been pitching for the Spokane Indians out of the bullpen. Like I said, former first-run draft pick never really put it together, however. Raw stuff, but he had control problems. I saw a couple times at a visit this season. I liked watching him pitch, even if he did put a few Timmy runners on base via the base on balls. Best of luck to Mr. Riley Pint in his future endeavors.

Thank you for listening, ladies and gentlemen. Remember tomorrow is an evening show, early evening show. I hope you'll join us then. I'm D.C. Lundberg, wishing you the best of afternoons. Get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the locked on today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski will keep you updated on the latest news in every major sport with Locked On's team of local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts. This is Joey Martin speaking for Lockdown Mariners, part of the Locked On podcast network.