Mariners Report Cards: Grading the 2021 season for Kyle Seager

If it truly was the end of his career as a Seattle Mariner, Kyle Seager made it one heck of a fun season. We’ve already covered a bit about his sendoff, and where he could possibly end up next year, so we will leave that be instead of re-hashing it here. I want to look at the season that he had, and see how it compares to not just what we expected from him, but what we all hoped/wanted from our franchise cornerstone third baseman.

Part of this is likely what the Mariners are going through as well. Weighing how well Seager’s season was and whether or not it is worth $20 million. You pair that with leadership and what he means to the team, and you can come up with what you think he’s worth. The front office is likely looking around the league at potential replacements as well, but let’s stick with his 2021 on the field performance.

Kyle Seager had a lot of HR and RBI, and not much else

I truly do love having Seager on the team. He fits right in with this fun-loving squad and seems to work his tail off day in and day out on the field. You look at the 35 HR and 101 RBI and wonder how a team like the Mariners could ever decide to not pick up his option.

There’s a lot more to it than that. Seager has fully embraced hitting with the shift on. Although it may lead to more HR’s, it doesn’t lead to as many quality at-bats. Here are some of the things that stand out to me when I’m looking through his production.

• .212/.285/.438 slash line
• 24% Strikeout Rate with just an 8.8% BB rate
• WAR 2.0 (dWAR of 0.1)
• Lots of Negative Win Probability, or below league average numbers (BtRuns, aLi, btWins)

I know some of those last ones sound funky, but it’s showing that even though Kyle Seager put runs across the plate, he accomplished a lot less than he should’ve. He’s turning into Joey Gallo at the plate, but without the walks.

It’s feast or famine with Seager. Yeah, he came through in the clutch a lot this year. Well, at least it seems that way when you are trying to hit a home run nearly every time you are up to the plate. I know that players fail 75% of the time, but when you’re failure rate is nearly 80% AND you are hardly putting the ball in play, that’s a bad combination.

It’s tough writing about Seager. I want him to succeed. I really do. Would you pay $20 million for someone who has averaged .224/.298/.432 with about 25 HR and 80 RBI, while playing slightly above average defense? This is starting to turn into a “would you/wouldn’t you” keep him article. Instead, let’s wrap it up with a grade for Kyle Seager.

When it comes down to it, I’m giving him a C for this season. If not for the clubhouse leadership, it would be a lot lower.