Mariners surprisingly fire coach early to spark struggling offense

In a surprising move, the Mariners have fired Brant Brown, the "Offensive Coordinator" and bench coach who was hired this offseason. While I am surprised by the timing of the team making this type of move, I am not surprised that they made it at all. The offense has been one of the worst in baseball, and someone had to pay that price. That someone is Brant Brown.

Brant Brown has been let go by the Mariners

Brown was brought here to help cut down on strikeouts and bring this offense to the next level. Last year, Eugenio Suarez and Teoscar Hernandez both led the league in strikeouts. Suarez was traded, and they let Hernandez walk in free agency. They then traded Jarred Kelenic, who also has strikeout problems, to the Braves. The front office made real strides to try and bring more of a contact approach to 2024, and Brown was the face of that.

The problem is the offense regressed in a big, big way. Yes, they are in first place in the American League West by 3 games over the Texas Rangers. But they still have a -7 run differential, and that is saying something when we know just how good the pitching has been this year. The Mariners also rank 28th in batting average (.221), 27th in OBP (.295), 28th in OPS (.656), and 30th in strikeouts (594). The Oakland Athletics are 29th in strikeouts with 567, 27 strikeouts ahead of the Mariners.

The Mariners had to make a change, and only time will tell if this was the correct change. The Mariners have talent in the lineup, there's no doubt. Mitch Garver, Mitch Haniger, Julio Rodriguez, J.P. Crawford and others all are proven hitters. But for whatever reason, nobody is hitting even close to the back of their baseball card. Apparently, the front office and Scott Servais felt that this was the necessary move needed to right the ship.

Stay tuned for more details.

As always, Go Mariners!