Dylan Moore has been on fire in August for the Mariners
Dylan Moore has been a tough one to nail down for the Mariners. Lately though, he has been on fire and been a huge catalyst to the Mariners success over the last month of baseball.
Dylan Moore has always been an exciting player for the Mariners. You see that he has power, and you know that he has speed. Shoot, he even plays good defense and can do it at a handful of positions. While he's best at 2B, LF, and RF, the Mariners have thrown him in at 3B, SS, and 1B as well. Yet, he has struggled to hit for average while with the team, not so much so in August.
Before we get to the August numbers, it's good to remind people how fast things can change in baseball. Moore missed a big chunk of the year with injury, and he might have come back to soon from it. He really struggled for a while, hitting just .063/.167/.188 with one steal, one homer, and one double while striking out 17 times in 32 ABs.
That was through July 21. All of a sudden, something changed. Not just Julio has been playing well, as Moore caught fire. I'll show those bad stats again so you can see the comparison right next to each other.
Time Frame | AB | BB/SO | H | R | RBI | HR | Slash |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6/7-7/21 17 Games | 32 | 4/17 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | .063/.167/.188 |
7/22-8/20 20 Games | 55 | 5/18 | 20 | 11 | 13 | 6 | .364/.444/.800 |
He has an OPS+ of 154 over that stretch! I know that he is just shy of 40 games so far, but that's still huge at this point in the year, and you can't really argue the fact that he has been a big part of the Mariners recent success in seeing them go 16-4 over their last 20 games. This is the Dylan Moore that everyone has been looking for, hoping for, and pining for, and we are finally seeing it. Small sample size, yes, but timing is everything. It wouldn't stand out if the team was 8-12, but he is a massive part of the success they are seeing.
Can he keep it up? No, of course not. But the fact that he is showing again that he is capable of producing is good enough for me. If he can settle into the median, that would be awesome. On the season, he is now hitting .253/.343/.575. That BA/OBP would be fantastic if he could hold in line with it. The SLG could drop 120 points, and it would still be a great line. That's an OPS of nearly 800 still, which is a great mark in today's game.
Dylan Moore has been on fire, and I'm thankful for his strong run over the last month of baseball. The Mariners are as well.