Best hitter, pitcher, and moment of the Mariners' series vs. the Cleveland Guardians

After a close game on Monday, the Mariners looked noncompetitive in their final two games against the Guardians. Some players struggled more than others, notably the starting pitching, but there were a few that did their best to put the team in a winning position.

Mariners' Best Hitter: Ty France

.400/.500/.500, 4 H, 2B, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB

Fans have been waiting for Driveline Ty France to show up ever since the first few training videos appeared on Twitter during the offseason. France posted a relatively small sample size of just 12 plate appearances in this set, but he made the most out of his time. He hit the ball hard, averaging an exit velocity of 95.0 mph on eight batted balls. In 2023, he averaged an exit velocity of just 87.5 mph, so there might be signs that harder contact is to come in 2024.

If he wants to keep his job at first base, hard contact will be the name of the game. He's never been very fast and is far from a defensive wizard, so his offense will have to be firing on all pistons. He's yet to hit his first home run this season, but with an 18.8% barrel rate thus far, it'll come soon enough.

Honorable Mention: Cal Raleigh

.429/.500/.429, 3 H, 3 R, BB

Raleigh played in just two of the three games in the series but hit well, going 3-7. His average exit velocity was 89.9 mph, sixth highest on the team. He seemed to get quite lucky on his batted balls, since although they weren't hit very hard, his BABIP of .600 speaks to either great placement or lucky fielding results.

Regardless of whether Raleigh can continue the strong offensive output he's had over the past two years, he'll still probably be an upgrade over backup option Seby Zavala, who went 0-3 in his first appearance for the team. Aside from a decent year in 2022, Zavala has never had an OPS+ higher than 65 for a given season.