How newest Mariner Taylor Ward can conquer his T-Mobile Park problem

The Mariners had a relatively underwhelming trade deadline this year and the team still has considerable gaps to fill. The most notable acquisition was Taylor Ward, who will have to fill the team's need for a right-handed bat. He has been a consistent above-average hitter for most of his career and is quite familiar with the Mariners after spending eight seasons with the Angels.

However, his career stats suggest that making more plate appearances in T-Mobile Park may hinder his abilities to help the Mariners' struggling lineup.

Taylor Ward has struggled to hit in Seattle throughout his entire career

Across 127 plate appearances at the Mariners' home stadium, Ward has slashed .195/.236/.297 for a .533 OPS. The only other stadium with worse results and more than 20 plate appearances is Oracle Park (.367 OPS). This is a cause for concern because he'll now be spending more time in that ballpark than ever and if he fails to be a real offensive boost, then Seattle's trade deadline will have been an abject disaster.

He's not the only player that has struggled to hit in Seattle. T-Mobile Park has earned a reputation for being particularly pitcher-friendly over the years, and it might be due to reasons you're assuming. Baseball Savant tracks several Park Factor statistics and it reveals some interesting things about creating runs in Seattle.

As a quick primer on Park Factor, it normalizes results similar to stats like OPS+ and wRC+ with 100 being average and anything above/below 100 correspondingly above/below average. To draw an example directly from the website:

"For example, the 135 HR mark for 2018-2020 at Great American Ball Park does not mean the Reds hit 35% more home runs at their home park. It means for batters and pitchers who played both at GABP and elsewhere, 35% more home runs were observed at GABP. "

Baseball Savant

With an overall Park Factor of just 91, T-Mobile Park is nearly as pitcher-friendly as Coors Field (114) is hitter-friendly. When combined with the fact that he had to face what has been one of the best pitching staffs in the sport over the past few years, it's unsurprising that his career numbers in Seattle have been rough.

Taylor Ward can lean into the 2 habits T-Mobile Park actually rewards

But now that he's here, how can he find success, especially after the team's recent shutout at the hands of the Tigers?

A closer look at Seattle's Park Factors show that while it is very difficult to find success in most offensive categories, there are two notable areas that are closer to league-average: home runs and walks.

This actually creates a nearly perfect environment for someone like Ward. His primary focus this year seems to be plate discipline. His walk rate of 17.2% is exceptional and has given him a .381 on-base percentage, 11th in MLB. Throughout his career, he has tended to make good swing decisions but has a chase rate of just 20.6%, better than 93% of qualified hitters.

However, this has come at the cost of his power. Last year, Ward hit 36 home runs and had an ISO of .247, 15th in MLB. This year, his ISO is just .100 thanks to hitting just seven home runs so far. Ben Clemens of FanGraphs wrote more about his transition since landing in Baltimore and stated that this was the result of Ward's elite bat control and intentionally shortening his swing to improve his contact.

In Baltimore, this approach may have worked to his favor given Camden Yards being more hitter friendly. But in his new home stadium, the only currency that seems to carry any value is home runs. Of the 10 best offensive seasons by a Mariner over the past decade, only one had less than 25 home runs hit. Something about T-Mobile Park makes it difficult to consistently score runs by putting balls in play but it's not much of a hindrance when it comes to balls leaving the park.

Throughout his career, Taylor Ward has shown that he can be a patient and precise hitter, or he can be recklessly focused on doing damage. If he wants to succeed in Seattle, he'll need to find a delicate balance between both approaches. In a park that seemingly only rewards walks and home runs, a player who can do both like Ward could be exactly what the team needs to jumpstart their lineup.

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