Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Is the Mariners Offense... Good?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Is the Mariners offense good? Let's talk about it. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ohoy, Sailors. It is Tuesday, April 29th, 2025.

Starting point is 00:00:23 This is Tedding Gonzalez and Colby Patnode for the Lockdown Marries Podcasts, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. turn any TV into your Xbox, no console needed. Head to Amazon.com slash Fire TV locked on to learn more. And as always, if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, you can check out our Patreon. All you have to do to check that out is click the link in the description of this episode.

Starting point is 00:00:54 So today, we're going to dive into the numbers on the Mara's offense and talk a little bit about their upcoming two games set with the Angels. But let's talk about this offense. Is this mayor or his offense, Colby? Good. What? What? The numbers say so, at the very least. You dive into a lot of these categories, and they are top 10, top five even, and some of them.

Starting point is 00:01:23 They are eighth and runs score. That's kind of the most important stat. They are third in home runs. They are seventh in RBI. They are third and stolen bases. they have the highest walk rate in baseball. They are second in WRC plus. Batting average, still pretty low.

Starting point is 00:01:41 They are 20th in batting average, 21st and batting average on balls put in play. But they are fourth and on-base percentage. And they are six in slugging percentage. They also are seventh in average exit velocity. They are second in barrel rate. And they are fourth in hard hit rate. So when you hear those numbers,

Starting point is 00:02:04 numbers. That sounds like a pretty, dare I say, good offense. Am I right? It's kind of hard to say that they're not. Now, I think what's fair to say is will they be for the rest of this year? Because the Mariners have not proven that they can put a sustainably good offense on the field for more than, you know, four or five, six weeks at a time. And so until they do this consistently, yeah,

Starting point is 00:02:34 It's a little tough to buy in in the big picture, but have the Mariners offense been good, you know, for the last month? Yes, yes, they have objectively, statistically, basically any measure you want to use except for batting average. And boy, it's weird that they're way up here and all these other categories and kind of down at the bottom in batting average. It's almost like that stat really doesn't matter that much. Who would have guessed?

Starting point is 00:02:56 Except for everybody who's ever read any book ever. But, yeah, it's one of those things where, like, look, the offense right now, you're scoring a lot of runs. They're hitting homers. They're drawing walks. They're stealing bases. They're doing everything you want them to do. Can they keep doing that for an entire year?

Starting point is 00:03:12 And they might have to with the way the injuries are racking up on the pitching side of things. But look, this is a streaky offense because Randy Rosarin is a streaky hitter. Cal Raleigh is a streaky hitter. Julio Rodriguez is a streaky hitter. And those are your three best guys. So, you know, at some point, those guys aren't going to perform. Now, to be fair, at some point this year, they already haven't performed. Randy went through a dry spell.

Starting point is 00:03:33 You know, Cal was terrible the first couple of weeks. Julio has been up and down, up and down all month. So to be fair, they have sustained some kind of offense. But also, is J.P. Crawford going to put up a 150 WRC plus all year. Is Jorge Polanco going to put up a 230 or whatever it is? No, probably not. Polanco definitely not. JP, I mean, he's kind of done a 136 before.

Starting point is 00:03:59 So maybe, but probably not. So yeah, at some point this offense is going to, you know, come back down to earth a little bit, but can they still be functional? Can they not be the worst offense in baseball for three or four months, which they were last year, which they were the year before that? That's kind of the question here. And I don't know the answer to that, but I do think that they're more equipped, more well equipped to score runs in a multitude of ways because even when they're struggling, Cal Raleigh will still hit some home runs. You know, they can still have guys who can steal bases. Yeah. Right.

Starting point is 00:04:31 And so they, even when they're struggling, they will still take their walks. Like Randy Rosaranda is going to take walks. J.P. Crawford is going to take walks. So they have different ways to beat you. And right now it's mostly just been, you know, drawing the walks and hitting the homer. But what's also weird is that the Mariners have one three run homer all year. Like it's not like they're just walk, walk, walk, homer.

Starting point is 00:04:52 Like, no, they're hitting a lot of solo home runs. But they're drawing a lot of walks. They're getting a lot of traffic. They're being very aggressive on the bases, sometimes to their detriment. game in Toronto says hello. They have two, three run, home runs. No, JP and Boston, Jorge on Friday. Yes, yes, that's right.

Starting point is 00:05:09 Yeah. So yeah, maybe we're starting to see that. But I think it's fair to be like, is this offense going to be good for the rest of the year? That's fair. What is an up for debate is that the offense has been good. I mean, statistically great for the month of April. So one of those things is a fair question.

Starting point is 00:05:30 other one is you're just denying reality. And that is that the Mariners have one of the five, six best offenses in Major League Baseball through April 29th. And that is not something that I think anybody in this sphere would have ever predicted was going to happen. But now, again, the hard part and the most important part, can they sustain quality offense for six months? Right. At the very least, this feels more earned. Like the success that we've seen so far from the team overall feels more earned because last year at their highest point it felt like they were just getting by on otherworldly pitching and that was it. The offense was so bad and basically every offseason acquisition not named Luke Rayleigh had cratered. This just feels more sustainable, more earned,

Starting point is 00:06:18 like I said. You're getting contributions throughout your entire roster. I mean, of the 13 position players currently on the roster, only three of them have a WRC plus below a 100 and one of them is at 99 right and 100 is obviously league average average for those that don't know but yeah rowdy telez is at 99 miles master bony is at 89 donovan salano yeah yeah but yeah but everyone else uh so hori polanco 233 leo rivas who continues to put up some really good and really annoying plate appearances uh has a 166 w rc plus Dillamore 164, Cal Raleigh, 158, J.P. Crawford, 145, Ben Williamson, 135, Randy Orozerana, 129. Mitch Garver is up to 113 even.

Starting point is 00:07:12 Luke Rayleigh, 110. Julio right now by WRC Plus is the fourth worst hitter on this team, 102. And you can take that a couple of ways, right? You can take that as a positive that, you know, Julio's not even hitting yet, and the offense still looks the way that it has. Or, you know, you could go, well, here we go again. Julio's not the guy that we all want him to be at the start of the year. But this start to the year has been fine.

Starting point is 00:07:40 It's more in line with 2023, where he was fine. He is hitting for more power than he did last year, which is huge. Like last year, it just felt like any time that he was finding grass, it was for singles. And that was it. And the only time that he was ever getting hits, it was just for the most minimal production possible. this year like he's come through in some big moments uh he had the the game tying double against the astros uh he had the you know the big home run against the a's in the series finale on the opening series of the year uh he had the the two run knock against the marlins on sunday which was nice you know not

Starting point is 00:08:19 trying to do too much stayed up the middle i was you know nice to see like i think we're seeing some real positive signs out of holio to start the year and eventually we know that he's going to break out. And hopefully that just coincides with whenever this offense does, you know, start to regress when guys like Leo Rivas and Ben Williamson start to regress if they do, which I assume is going to happen. So and at that point, you know, hopefully it's just kind of like this natural back and forth of like your stars are going to carry when they need to. And then when they're not able to, you're going to get contributions out of the Ben Williamson's than Leo Rivas's of the world. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:08:57 they're just they're not a lot of wasted at bats like the the team is even when they're striking out right it's not three pitches you're out it's seven eight pitch at bats that end up being strikeouts and you know those those add up those still pile up so even though you you lost that that matchup you've done your team a tremendous service by making the pitcher work to get you out uh and so yeah like look this team still has an occasional game where they'll strike out 14, 15 times, and those suck. Don't get me wrong. But they also have a lot of games where they're striking out six, seven,

Starting point is 00:09:36 eight times total throughout the entire game. And they're doing it against like really good pitchers. Max Meyer was the latest one who's having a really good year, tons of strikeouts. He had five strikeouts in four innings. That's, that's nothing. So, yeah, the Mariners, they're battling, they're grinding the app, the quality of the app, bats are a lot better. and that does, you know, lead some hope to the idea that, like, look, even though they might not finish the year,

Starting point is 00:10:03 eighth and run scored or second in WRC plus, can they be a functional offense for a majority of the season? That's really what it is because for the last couple of years, the Mariners' final offensive ranks have been fine, but they've just been carried by these outrageous, like six, seven week stretches where they are one of the best offenses in baseball. and, you know, for the other four and a half months, they're bad to mediocre. Can you just be good? Average to good for six months? And if you can do that, then you really like your shot, you know, kind of not regardless of the pitching.

Starting point is 00:10:38 This is a pitching sauce to be solid. But you'd like your chances to do that because, you know, eventually your pitching will get better, assuming it gets healthier. And then you don't need your office to score six, seven, eight runs a night to feel like you're going to win. So we'll see if they can keep it up. But yeah, so far, I mean, you really, there's nothing to nitpick the Mariners about. There you

Starting point is 00:11:00 are, the offense is kind of a wagon right now. And again, how long that lasts? I don't know, but it's fun right now. So let's ride through it and then we'll see if the pitching can catch up. Yeah, we'll talk a little bit more about what has been the key to the

Starting point is 00:11:15 mayor's offensive success in just a moment. But first a reminder, this episode of the locked on Maris podcast is brought to you by wonderful pistachios. Looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious. Crack into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios. Wonderful pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts. Each one out serving has six grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value.

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Starting point is 00:12:15 And you're listening to the Lockdown Marries podcast. If you missed it yesterday, we made an announcement that Lockdown Merritt is expanding. we are adding a new show to our slate here that's going to be released both on the YouTube channel and on all podcast platforms where you get our show. It's called The Mariners Postcast and it will be hosted by Anders Hurst and Chris Crawford. And that is supposed to start next Monday. We might have Anders and Chris on the show here in the next few days to have them just tell you guys a little bit about what that's going to be like. So yeah, looking forward to them getting that started and hope you guys welcome.

Starting point is 00:12:52 them with the open arms or you know just tell them how much you miss us that's cool too uh yeah we're not going anywhere we'll still do post game shows on day games and whatnot but uh yeah our focus is more big picture uh and yeah i mean i'm sure we have them on later this week they'll explain uh how they're going to run their show but uh this is still our show in our channel that's right it's right you will respect our house rules but uh Yeah, it'll be fun. Yeah, yeah, looking forward to it. I'm going forward to talking to Anders and Chris and introducing them to you guys.

Starting point is 00:13:28 I'm sure you guys are at least familiar with Chris. Probably some of you, if you listen to KJR, you're familiar with Anders as well. All right, so let's get back into the Mariners offense. This offense, Corby, and you alluded to this a little bit already, this offense is annoying as hell to face as an opposing pitcher. again like guys like leo rivas are just working incredibly annoying long at bats uh cow raleigh worth like three 10 pitch at bats on the weekend like they are fouling pitches off they are not giving in to most pitchers and the most impressive thing here too is that they're doing it

Starting point is 00:14:13 against some of the best pitchers in the game right now like max mire was one of the hottest pitchers in baseball heading into sunday they did it against Garrett Crochet. They were able to get, you know, a couple of runs off of Terrick Scouble on that win. Like, they are doing it against some of the best of the best, while also more often than not, actually handling their business against the guys that they need to. Yeah, you know, it's nice to see them not get shut out often by the Spencer Spaghettis and whatnot of the world where it's like, hey, yeah, they're facing this kind of 4A guy.

Starting point is 00:14:47 Like, oh, well, they're probably going to get, you know, seven shutout innings. against them. It was like, no, the Mariners will find a way to get, you know, at least three or four off of these guys. And, you know, it really always seems to come down as do they get the big hit? Like, you think of Sean Newcomb in Boston where he had the bases loaded nobody out and, whoops, you get nothing out of it. And they still won that game. And the Mariners often still, you know, showed up. But yeah, it's often, more often than not, they actually are getting that hit right now. And like you said, they are handling their business when they have to. so that they don't necessarily need to win these big games against these other team's aces. But they actually have. They beat Crochet. They beat Scoobel. They beat Max Meyer. So, yeah, you know, again, look, at some point, it's going to happen.

Starting point is 00:15:35 Like some, maybe it'll happen tonight. Some scrub is going to come up and throw seven shutout innings against Seattle. It happens, right? Even to good offenses, sometimes the pitcher just has really good stuff. Sometimes you get unlucky, like blah, blah, blah. It happens. But yeah, for the most part, this team, when they faced it. a bad pitcher. They've done what they needed to do against him. And when they faced a good

Starting point is 00:15:54 pitcher, they found a way to kind of get him out of the game as early as possible. They knocked Burlander out after what, two and two thirds, three and two thirds, whatever it was. They got school out after six. They got Crochet after five. They got Meyer out after four. Like, they're battling these aces, quote unquote. And they're punishing these mediocre pitchers for the most. Again, there's always the Casey Mize and like those type of things are still going to happen. Like Cal Quantrell took him a while to get to him. Yeah. Those things are going to happen still because again, the offense is streaky.

Starting point is 00:16:27 And also just that's baseball sometimes. Yeah. But on the flip side, then, you know, the next day they faced Connor Gillespie and smoke him, right? And it kind of feels like with the way that this offense is going that, you know, when they do have those hiccups, you more kind of just attribute it to that's baseball rather than this offense is inept, which is what it's felt. like the last couple of years. Because they really haven't strung like two or three of those type of games together in a row yet this year. Yeah. Like at least not since the first homestand.

Starting point is 00:16:59 The last three weeks or so, it's been like, yeah, look, we, we got, you know, destroyed by what's his name, the Blue Jays guy that they called up after we dropped six on Easton Lucas. Oh, yeah, yeah. But the next day, you know, against so and so, we put up seven, you know, like, okay, fine. they haven't been like six innings one run against two triple a call-ups. Like they haven't done that two times in a series yet this year. So will that happen at some point? I'm sure it will because again, baseball and we'll all be frustrated and we'll all be upset. But so far they haven't done it.

Starting point is 00:17:34 And that's why I think we're like not okay with it. But like we're like, okay, yeah. Like right now we're still in a, oh, that's baseball mode because they are stacking together these one, two, three run efforts. It's, yeah, you know, we only got one yesterday or whatever, but we got seven today. You know, I guess what you're saying is like they've kind of earned the benefit of the doubt for the time being. Sure, for now. I mean, it's, it's, it's very, uh, temporary because like the first time this happens, right?

Starting point is 00:18:08 Then I, it's probably going to because again, those scars run deep for how, how, think of all the terrible offense we have watched for the last decade. pretty much. Yeah. It's going to take time to kind of be like, no, the Mariners are a good offensive team, period, without any qualifier is nothing. The Mariners have been a good offensive team right now. Are they going to be a good offense? I think it's fair to say, I don't know.

Starting point is 00:18:29 We'll see. But they have been, absolutely. And right now you probably feel pretty darn good about where the offense is at. So, yeah, until the first time, they kind of get locked down by a couple of mediocre pitchers, then I think you have reason to be like, yeah, you know, sometimes baseball. and they'll probably score six, seven runs tomorrow. Yeah. The marons are now up to 16th, so middle of the pack, WRC Plus with runners in scoring position.

Starting point is 00:18:57 They're now a slightly above league average hitting team in that regard, 101 WRC Plus. They are 27th still in batting average, though, with runners in scoring position. They are, let's see here. Where are they? Why can I not see Seattle? They are 14th and on base percentage. And then they are 25th in slugging. So that needs to go up with runners in scoring position.

Starting point is 00:19:24 They need to do more damage. But they are making some strides in that area. They are converting more with runners in scoring position than they were at the start of the year. I mean, it would be hard for them to convert less than they were to start the year. And the BABIP is still pretty low with runners in scoring position as well, 24th. So getting a little unlucky as well. What's the K percentage at? K percentage is, where are they?

Starting point is 00:19:57 They are running the six highest K percentage with runners in scoring position. Yeah, so there's still a little bit of work to do. But again, when you're scoring five, six, seven runs a night. Yeah. You know, on the regular, you run the risk of nitpicking a little bit here. And again, that's not necessarily bad, but like, look, there are reasons to believe that this isn't sustainable whatsoever. But there are also numbers that suggest this could get better. This could get like, you know, this could be real.

Starting point is 00:20:29 It could normalize because while this might go down, these numbers could go up. And there's still room to grow there. So, yeah, the offense, again, two things are very true right now. The offense has been great for the last month or so. Objectively, they're one of the best offenses in baseball. it's also fair to be like, we'll see what they do the rest of the year. I'm not ready to quite buy it 100%

Starting point is 00:20:54 that this is a top 10 unit in all of baseball. But they've been pretty close on just six, seven weeks of sample. So I'm just hoping that when they do kind of go through a lull, it's they get pushed down to like 18th, not 30th with a huge gap between them and 29, like we saw for most of the last, you know, decade. So, yeah, I think as long as the floor remains close to middle of the pack, then you're going to be just fine.

Starting point is 00:21:25 So the Angels are coming to town for a quick two-game set starting tonight. The Marys will look to keep their series win streak alive. We'll talk about if they can do it just a moment. But first a reminder of this episode of the Lockdown Maris podcast is brought to you by Fandul. The NBA playoffs are here. and Fandul is given new customers an incredible way to get in on the action. Right now when you join Fandul and place your first $5 bet, you'll get $250 in bonus bets if your bet wins. I love how Fandual makes betting so easy, whether it's picking my favorite team or diving into player props.

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Starting point is 00:22:50 So tonight it's going to be Jack Kohanowitz against Bryce Miller. That is the favorable pitching matchup of the two for the Mariners. Because tomorrow, which is a day game and we're going to be doing a post game show. We'll catch you guys after the game. Tomorrow it is former mariner Tyler Anderson against Emerson Hancock, who has obviously pitched well his last two times out. But Tyler Anderson is having a really. nice start to the year.

Starting point is 00:23:18 That is a clear advantage for the Angels. Yeah, Mariners Fixed Tyler Anderson, you're welcome. But just said, look at his career before Seattle, look at his career after. Just saying. Pretty clear. Yeah, Angels coming to town. You know how we feel

Starting point is 00:23:34 about the Donald Angels. But they're annoying. They always find a way to just be a constant pain in the side of the Mariners, despite not being that good. Mike Trout coming to Team Mobile Park, terrifying, even though Mike Trout has not been particularly good this year. He's sitting a lot of home runs.

Starting point is 00:23:52 He is, but he's also hitting like a buck 60. So, yeah, either way, you know he's going to terrorize Team Mobile. He always does. He's that guy. By the way, you know how committed the angels are to keeping Mike Trout healthy? The other day, they had Jorge Solair play center field. What? Yeah, Mike Trout was playing right, and they still went with Jorge Soler in center.

Starting point is 00:24:15 all right okay that is obviously yeah obviously was it Kieran Paris Kyran I think he got off to an incredible start

Starting point is 00:24:28 I don't know if he's sustained it I'm going to say probably not but yeah he's down he's down to a 231 315 508 slash line sure Joe Adele also terrifying just because only against the Mariners only against the Mariners

Starting point is 00:24:46 But, yes, you know, Adele, Trout, those guys are always going to terrify you a little bit here. It's nice that, you know, Cole Calhoun finally retired and they just replaced them with Mariner Killer Joe Adele. Yeah. But yeah, bullpen should be in great shape for Seattle. You hope the two extra days rest for Bryce Miller helps him get through the start in pretty good shape. And then you kind of see. But yeah, you probably want to win this one. But hey, you know what? We said that about the last four series.

Starting point is 00:25:13 And they didn't win the game they were supposed to, but they won the next two. So who knows, but yeah, the Angels, well, they're not very good. It's early in the season and they're still dangerous. They still have a lot of power in that lineup. And we'll see. We'll see how Bryce, you know, kind of a hamper price, how he handles this lineup. And Mike Trout always dangerous, a team mobile park.

Starting point is 00:25:37 Joe Adele always dangerous just against the Mariners in general. But hey, you know what? Willie Calhoun isn't on the team this year. So bullet dodge there, I guess, for now. for now. Tim Anderson is on this team though. Former Mariner Killer. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:25:53 Somehow I'm not too worried about I'm sure I'll hit like a double tonight or something. Cut to Tim Anderson going like four or five. I guess but like I mean, come on. Tim Anderson is cooked. Like it is.

Starting point is 00:26:07 There are a lot of names on this roster. Tim Anderson, Jorge Solair. Travis Arnail, J.D. Davis. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Netto's a good player, so he's back with them. Logan O'Hoppe's a good player.

Starting point is 00:26:23 Like, again, well, I have no respect for the organization. They got some guys. Like, you know, offensively, they got some guys. So we'll see what happens. I just, I love beating them, but I kind of hate playing them because it's just like, oh, what kind of Tom Foolery, which is the nicest word I can use on the show, is going to go down. It's going to cause the Mariners to blow an eighth inning lead again.

Starting point is 00:26:46 against these guys. So, yeah, yeah. We'll see. I know I'm hoping I get good use out of my meme for this mini-series, but, you know, last year they just, the marriage just could not beat these guys for whatever reason. And they're not the healthiest they've been facing them right now either. So we'll see what they do.

Starting point is 00:27:06 But yeah, if you split the series, like, fine, whatever, it doesn't really matter. But just keep on playing some good ball and take your chances. And we'll see what happens. but yeah find a way to split get out of here enjoy your off day on the road and then uh you get uh i believe three in texas this weekend against the rangers and try and win that series yeah uh gonna have to keep an eye on bryce miller tonight yep what's he looking like where the spin rates looking like uh on his fastball what's the velo looking like on his fastball yep all that um yeah they they need him with the injury of you know to gilbert kirby's still not back they need miller to be

Starting point is 00:27:51 healthy and to step up so hopefully uh today is a step in the right direction he he got an extra two days off yep um because of the uh yeah because of the evans start on sunday so hopefully he is well rested feeling better in that arm yeah it's hard to ask brian woo to step up more than he already has and you know it's hard to i i just don't know if emerson and and um evans are capable of stepping up more than what they are doing right now so yeah it really does you really need bryce and you need uh louise to really step their games up a little bit here and louise did that on on saturday night so hopefully bryce follows suit but yeah you need the veterans in this rotation to take a step up uh at least for the next month or so because that's the best

Starting point is 00:28:40 case scenario for both George and Logan. So yeah, and again, asking Wu to do more than he's done so far this year, I mean, that'd be tough. And then just asking Logan Evans and Emerson Hancock to replace Kirby and Gilbert, it's fools errand. They just have to try to be solid and give you a shot to win. So it really does come down to Louise and Bryce. And hopefully today is the day Bryce starts to turn this thing around a little bit.

Starting point is 00:29:09 and hopefully he's feeling better too because if they lose Bryce yeah they're already stretched dead so I don't know how they how they survive if Bryce can't get over this hump here pretty quick all right that is going to do it for our show thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown Marriss podcast for Colby Pat node I'm Tadang Gonzalez be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Marrers you can follow me at Tidongazales Colby at C-Pat 11 that's CPAT 1 1 we're also on blue sky you can follow me at TD Colby at MLB Colby in the show at Lockdown Mariners. You can also find us on Instagram and Locked on Mariner's.

Starting point is 00:29:47 Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you after the game tomorrow. Peace.

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Is the Mariners Offense... Good?

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