Mariners winners and losers from the month of May
The Mariners had… well, it was a bad month. After scraping together and holding just above .500 in April, they played pretty bad in May with a record of 10-18. Some guys did great, and others stunk.
Who stands out? There are hitters and pitchers, from the obvious to the surprising. The same goes for the ones that stunk.
I think we can all agree that the Mariners need to pick it up, and the big win to start the series against the Orioles definitely helped. It was a big win just from the fact that it got them to double-digit wins on the month, as seeing a single number in the win column for an entire month isn’t something that any fan base would ever want to see.
Depending on your thoughts and what you believe, it isn’t just players that are going to make the list. The Mariners skipper will make an appearance, and I think everyone can guess which slide he will be on.
For the month of June, here is who the Mariners are going to end up playing. Let’s hope that it goes better than May did.
- Baltimore Orioles – two away games, three home games
- Texas Rangers – three away games
- Houston Astros – three away games
- Boston Red Sox – three home games
- Minnesota Twins – three home games
- Los Angeles California Angels in the outfield of Anaheim – five home games, three away
- Oakland Athletics – three away games, one home game
Let’s check out the stats and see who had a great month, and who is happy to see the month end.
Mariners Winners from May
Ty France – .355/.427/.473, 7 2B, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 12 R
France has been one of the best hitters in baseball this year, and turned it up during the month of May. It seems like all this guy does is hit, and he carries a 12-game hit streak into game two against Baltimore.
Julio Rodriguez – .309/.339/.527, 4 2B, 6 HR, 17 RBI, 12 R
We all wanted Julio to do well, and it seems like the baseball world is finally realizing that he has been having a great season. Those first eight games threw everyone off, but Julio has been crushing it since. He carried it throughout the entire month of May, and nearly capped it off with a homer in the first against Baltimore on the 31st, but the new wall barely kept it in play.
George Kirby – 3.46 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 26 IP, 27 H, 3 BB, 28 K, .265 BAA
I easily could’ve put Logan Gilbert here, and he did have numbers that were a bit better than Kirby. However, Kirby was called up to take over for Brash, and has done quite well for being so inexperienced, which is why he gets the nod. He capped off a great month with a spectacular performance against the Orioles, striking out 8 in six scoreless innings, commanding the zone, and attacking hitters all night.
Penn Murfee – 1.35 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 13.1 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 16 K, .152 BAA
Murfee has been one of the biggest surprises of the season for the Mariners, even more so than Julio Rodriguez. We called it during the offseason, but he has surpassed everyone’s hopes. For a bullpen that has struggled a bit with inconsistency and injuries, Murfee has been a stalwart.
Mariners Losers from May
Diego Castillo – 15.63 ERA, 2.53 WHIP, 6.1 IP, 12 H, 4 BB, 8 K, .375 BAA
Castillo had an awful start to the month. In three appearances, he would go 0.1, 0.0, and 0.2 innings while giving up 1,5, and 3 runs respectively. It brought his ERA on the season from 1.86 all the way to 9.28. It’s really been the only rough stretch for him, but it was an AWFUL stretch.
Since then, he has been better with a 3.38 ERA in six appearances, giving up two runs, two hits, two walks, and striking out 7 in 5.1 innings. Let’s hope it was just a blip, and we get back to seeing the good Deigo Castillo.
Luis Torrens/Cal Raleigh – combined .181/.257/.287, 1 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 10 R
Torrens is the big culprit here, with all his hits coming as singles, and just 2 RBI on the entire month. At least Raleigh is hitting dingers, with three on the month. He also has just three singles, so that’s not good. The Mariners aren’t going to succeed with either a singles hitter hitting in the 190s, or a catcher with occasional power hitting in the 140s.
Dylan Moore – .128/.261/.256, 0 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 6 R
At least he has three SB? Moore was finally given some more regular playing time and has been playing as he always has in the past. Speed and some pop, but he just can’t hit often enough to matter. He does play good defense, but even an average of .210 would make him playable and good.
Scott Servais – 10 wins and 18 losses
When it’s June 1st and rumors are going around about your job security, it’s a loss. Doesn’t matter if we think you’re good or not, it’s just not a good thing to have floating around.
What do you think? Any other winners and losers? Let us know and as always… Go Mariners!