Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - MLB Changing Balls

Episode Date: March 4, 2021

Yes, that's the best title D.C. could come up with. Pathetic, eh? Anyways, before talking about baseballs, D.C. recaps the previous two Mariners Spring Training contests, one loss and one tie. The third game was pretty much bombs away, including the M's first home run of the Spring. Also, the baseballs will be slightly altered this season in an effort to cut down the home run rate. D.C. talks about these minor changes, and also talks about the home rate in 2019 vs. both 2018 and 1998, the last time there was a significant power explosion in baseball. 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.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, Joey Martin, and welcome to those of you out there in podcast land. I am D.C. Lundberg, and I will be attempting to present today's episode of Locked-on Mariner's, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, or, as I like to say, T-L-O-P-N for short, or for shorter, T-Lopin. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to this program using whichever podcast. casting app that you personally care to use.

Ask your smart device to play locked on Mariners podcast or any program here on Tloppin, very easy to do. All you got to do is say, hey, smart device, go ahead and play me locked on whatever podcast. I apologize for not getting the show out this morning, as I thought I wouldn't, and as I said I would. Those of you who have been listening to the show for a while may know that I've been going through some minor health issues over the last several months. It's more or less a nerve problem that came to you.

about after about the shingles that I had at the end of October. It's also caused me to be way more fatigued than I ordinarily am. Hence why I sound so crappy today. I apologize in advance for the quality of this episode. There are now two games to recap rather than just the one game I thought I was going to be recapping. Yesterday's, Tuesdays, Tuesdays, and today's Wednesdays. We'll begin with Tuesday's game, which was against the Cleveland Indians. The starting pitcher for the Ems was Yusea Kikichi.

a name that I cannot pronounce properly. In any case, the Japanese left-hander with two winnings, with the only blip on his radar being a first-itting RBI double off the bat of Josh Naylor, which scored Jake Bowers. Naylor tried to stretch this double into a triple, but was thrown out at third. Left the elder Jared Kelnick through to the cutoff man, Kikichi, who then threw to third baseman Kyle Seeger to get Naylor at third.

This was the third out of the inning, so I'm pretty sure that Indian skipper Terry Francona, was none too pleased with Josh Naylor. The Indians scored two more runs in the fifth inning against Eric Swanson, courtesy of an Andres Jimenez two-run home run. In the sixth, Josh Naylor would hit his second run-scoring double of the game, this one plating both Oscar Mercado and Jake Myers. Jaime Schultz, the victim, on this one.

The Indians would add one more in the seventh. Ryan LaVarnway scored on a sacrifice fly from Stephen Kwan. The Mariners finally got on the board in the first. bottom of the seventh with Jordan Cowan scoring on a Taylor-Tremel double. Like Josh Naylor's RBI double in the first, Tramel was thrown out at third, trying to stretch this double into a triple. Part of that aggressive base running that the Mariners are trying to really utilize the spring, so I'm not too upset about this, especially since this was not the third out of the

inning, unlike Naylor's base running in this app. That would be the end of the scoring, and the game was ended after the top of the eighth inning. Kikichi pitched the first two innings, throwing 29 pitches, giving up one run, it was earned, one hit, one walk, and he struck out three. Not a bad first spring start. Also pitching for the Mariners on Tuesday were Joey Gerber, Domingo Tapia, Eric Swanson, Jaime Schultz, Gerson Bautista, and Taylor Guillory. The Mariners as a team walked four batters, which is not bad, especially considering

it was only the second game of spring, and gave up 10 hits. They struck out five. On the offensive side of the ball, they managed to collect seven hits and only struck out seven times, which is a far cry from their first game in which they cayed 13 times. They did only walk once, however, with Kyle Seeger drawing the lone base on balls. The seven hits were collected by J.P. Crawford, Mitch Hanager, Julio Rodriguez, telegram Sam Haggurty, Jordan Cowan, Braden Bishop, and Taylor Tremel, who drove in the Mariners' only run. The M's left 13 men on base. That brings us to today's trivia corner, and we are doing, ladies and gentlemen, a hall pass. Today's subject played 17 years in the major leagues.

In the 1990s and 2000 aughts, he came up as a catcher, but was switched to left field very early on, but was the first baseman for the vast majority of his career. He slugged 473 home runs while slashing 280, 380, 3.3.3. 383, 546. That's an OPS of 929. He was very patient, drawing 100 or more walks four times. That accounts for the high on base percentage relative to his batting average, and his season high for walks was 123. He hit 40 or more home runs three times with a high of 44. He drove in 100 or more runs nine times. That's a lot, with a high of 145, which was the the highest total in his league that season. He also led the league in doubles one season with 57. That's quite a few doubles. He only made two All-Star teams,

but this was an era where first base was so stacked in both leagues. It was very hard to make an All-Star team as a first baseman. He placed in the MVP voting seven times, finishing as high as second, and won three Silver Slugger Awards. Do you out there in podcast land, think that these are Hall of Fame credentials. I'll tell you who this is after I'd tell you about Rock Auto. They're a family business, Rock Auto.com, a family business, serving Auto Parts

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There's no reason to do it. So go to rockado.com to see all the parts available for your car, truck, van, SUV, or crossover. Right locked on, and their how did you hear about us, box, so they know for a fact that we sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Rock Auto.com Today's hall pass was Carlos Delgado, the slugging first baseman who played mostly for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Again, first base was such a loaded position at this time in both leagues that he somehow managed to fly under the radar, but man did he put up some monster numbers. Coming up, there is one more game to recap. Would the Mariners win or lose their first road contest of the spring? or would something else happen entirely? Or would both teams forfeit and instead choose to hold a breakdancing contest? Now back to Lockdown Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundver.

Thank you very much once again, J.M. Ladies and gentlemen, we are covering everything you need to know about the Seattle Mariners, or at least I'm trying my artist to do so. But what about the rest of sports? Now the Locked-on podcast network has you covered there as well with Lockdown today. It's hosted by Peter Bikowsky, and it's got all the sports, news you need every morning in under 20 minutes. Subscribe to the Locked on Today podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm guessing it's the app on which you're listening to this particular podcast right at this exact moment, getting back to talking about the Mariners games. We recap Tuesday's games in A block, and here in B block, we will go to this afternoon's game, which was the first road contest of the Cactus League season, playing in Mesa against the Cubs. This game would be sort of a shootout of sorts, with the Cubbies scoring the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the first inning, thanks to a two-run home runoff the bat of Jock Peterson. The Cubs would score two more in the third. With the bases loaded, Javier Baez hit into a force play, erasing the runner who had been occupying first, and scoring Wilson Contreras. On the next pitch, Jason Hayward also grounded into a force play, erasing Baez and bringing home Chris Bryant.

Chicago had a 4-0 lead at this point. The M's got on the board in the top of the fourth, but they had some assistance here. Ty France scored on a throwing error by shortstop Javi Bayez on a ball that was hit by Jose Marmalejos, and Marmoleos would later be driven home by Jared Kelnick, who drove himself in on the same play. It was a two-run home run and the first Mariners long ball of the spring,

and this brought the score to four to three. Anthony Rizzo would counter with a two-run home run of his own, the bottom of the fourth, to extend the Chicago lead to 6-3. The very next half-inning, top of the fifth, Taylor Tramell jacked a solo home run, bringing the score to 6-4. Cubbies still have the advantage. In the top of the 6, the M's would tie it up. Sam Travis scored on a Jose Godoy single, G-O-D-O-Y.

I'm not exactly sure how to pronounce that. Later in the inning, Cal Raleigh would score on a double play hit into by Dylan Thomas. score was 6-6 at this point, but the Cubs would retake the lead in the bottom of the frame. Nick Duran, or I'm not exactly sure how to pronounce this either, D-U-R-O-N. Nick Duran came into pitch and was unspectacular to say the least. He hit the first batter he faced, Brennan Davis, and then walked Chase Stumpf on four pitches. Pinch-hater Taylor Gushu also walked on four pitches to load the bases. Duran had faced three batters, and none of his pitches were in the strike.

zone. And unfortunately, that would hold true in the next bat as well, with Alfonso Rivas also drawing a four-pitch walk, scoring Davis, and giving the Cubs a 7-6 advantage. They would take an 8-6 advantage in the 7th, thanks to a Michael Hermesilo solo solo blast. In the top of the 9th, Jack Reinhimer launched a two-run home run to tie the game at 8 all. The Cubs did not score in their half of the ninth, and the game was then called, ending in an 8-to-8 tie. The Mariners collected nine hits, with Reinhheimer getting two of them, also won a piece by Ty France, Cal Raleigh, Jared Kelnick, Jose Godoy, Taylor Tremel, Eric Filia, and Donovan Walton. They struck out ten times and walked three.

Kyle Lewis, Josh Morgan, and Godoy drew the three walks. Godoy had himself a pretty good game. L.J. Newsom started the game for the M's, and he went the first two innings, Pardon me, gave up four hits, two runs, both of, uh, pardon me, yeah, two runs, both of them earned, one walk and that Jock Peterson home run. Struck out one also. Jimmy Yakubonis, Vinnie Natoli, Aaron Fletcher, Nick Doron, Ian McKinney, and Darren McKelly, and Darren McCoggin would all subsequently pitch an inning apiece.

Do you have a question or comment? If you do, I employ you to send an email to Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com. I will reply to it on the air and future mailbag episode. Questions and comments on any subcommittee. are welcome. In fact, I encourage them. I like answering random questions that have nothing whatever to do with baseball, and I don't mind reading silly questions either. Just bear in mind that this is a family show, so keep it appropriate in that regard. Coming up, will Major League Baseball be using new balls next season? Insert Mitch Hanninger joke here.

Ah, shoot, I blew that tease. Sorry, gang. Anyways, now I'm going to tell you about betonline.org. bet online is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action football might be over but NBA college basketball and NFL or NHL pardon me are in full swing bet online even covers awards TV shows and reality TV oh goody real time updated odds and props on almost anything you can imagine bet online has you covered for all the news scores and odds it's the best way to place your bets and it's free to sign up gang head over to the website and use your mobile device or use your mobile device rather to sign up today. You can receive your 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. Bet Online, your online sportsbook experts, promo code Locked On, all one word. Now back to Lockdown Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. You bet. Thanks once again, Joey. If you are the type of baseball fan that can't help but get giddy over prospects,

we have the podcast for you. Locked on MLB Prospects hosted by Minor League Play-by-Play Voice, Aram Leighton is the only daily podcast devoted entirely to the stars of tomorrow. From team-focused farm system breakdowns, prospect rankings, and interviews with some of the brightest up-and-comers in the game, Lockdown MLB Prospects is the best way to stay plugged in on the future of your favorite team. Subscribe today wherever you get your podcasts. I will also say that in the script, favorite is spelled the Canadian way.

So I guess that's for all you people listening now. there in British Columbia today. Anyways, Major League Baseball is going to use a different ball next season. In an attempt to cut down the home run rate, they're going to start using cannon balls. No, no, no. The ball won't actually be all that much different from what they had been using, but they're going to be slightly modified. You may have noticed an uptick in the number of home runs in 2019.

Well, MLB set a record for home runs that year with 6,770. That's up from 5,585 home runs the year previous, 2018. I was curious as to how many hits were home runs. So I ran the numbers and found that 16.1% of all hits were home runs in 2019. It's a huge number compared to 13.6% in 2018. That's still a lot. When baseball had a significant power boom in 1998, 11.3% of the 10.3% of the hits were home runs that year. In 98, there were 5,046 long balls, but there were also many

more base hits than in recent years and a much higher league batting average. The league hit 266 in 1998 compared to 248 in 2018, almost exactly 20 years later. I'm digressing a little bit. Last year, 15.9% of all hits were home runs, almost an identical number to 2019. It's 0.2%. percentage points away. To quote an article that was written by Mark Fein-Sand, published on MLB.com on February 8th, quote, following the 2019 season, a committee of scientists commissioned by MLB came to the determination that the baseballs had less drag on average than in previous seasons, one of the reasons for the boost in home runs.

The key to the boom, inconsistencies in seam height and The article goes on to say, quote again, the league requires all baseballs to have a coefficient of restitution, C-O-R, in simple terms the bountiness of the ball, ranging from 0.530 to 0.570. But the average C-O-R had trended toward the top of that range in recent years. Rawlings has loosened the tension on the first three wool windings within the ball. The company's research believes this adjustment will bring the COR down slightly while also lessening the ball's weight by 2.8 grams without changing its size. According to the AP, MLB does not anticipate the weight change to impact pitchers velocity, end quote. According to the associated press, not to be confused with the garlic press, MLB sent a memo out to all its teams near the beginning of February. This memo, quote, cited an independent lab that found the new balls will fly one to two feet shorter on balls hit over 375 feet, end quote.

The Fine Sand article also listed the five teams that had been using humodores for its baseballs. The Rockies, who have been using a humidor for years due to the thin air in Denver, the Diamondbacks, Mets, Red Sox, and Mariners. Five more teams will reportedly be. using Humidor's next season, but the article does not state which teams those are. I will be interested to revisit this topic at the end of the season or even at the All-Star break to see what the rate of home runs winds up being versus the percentages I listed earlier in the story from last year and the year before, or maybe even after just a couple of months, considering last season was only 60 games.

That is going to be it for today. Next episode will most likely be Friday, and whether that means Friday morning or Friday after I honestly cannot say. In any case, I will be joined on Friday by Bailey Quarters, Underdog, and a Rivet Gun. Also, in the interest of making a game effort to meet my quota this month, we will most likely have at least one episode this weekend. At that time, we're going to have a special musical performance by the California Raisins. That is going to be a lot of fun and you won't want to miss it. So download, rate, and subscribe to this program.

Look for us on any podcasting app that springs to mind. Thank you for listening today, ladies and gentlemen. Sorry for my poor performance today. Don't be surprised if we have some episodes coming up that are presented by guest hosts. Although I will say that it's March 3rd and I've already produced as many episodes this month as I did all of February.

Also, the next four Wednesdays will be crossover episodes with the other shows covering teams in the AL West. One week from today, I will be speaking with Bryce Padderick of Locked-on Rangers. Then I believe the week following that will be a crossover with Locked on Angels. And then I think Locked on A's and then finally the Astros, I'm not 100% certain of that order.

But whichever order these crossovers will be in, I hope that you're looking forward to those. Thank you again for listening to today's episode, gang. Have a great evening. This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.