Mariners vs Reds: Dumper Discipline, More Quality Starts, and a Mariners' First

Things haven't been the rosiest so far in 2024 but the most recent series against the Reds might kcikstart some positive momentum going forward. Seattle outscored the visiting team 17-5 over the course of three games and a few players finally started to look like their old selves.

Mariner's Best Hitter: Cal Raleigh

.286/.583/.714, 2 H, 1 HR, R, 2 RBI, 5 BB, 1 K

Cal Raleigh's slash line for the series seems very characteristic, especially the high slugging, but once you look at the counting stats for the set, things get a little weird. Sure, he had a home run but only had two hits total. Driving up his numbers were his five walks, a shining example of plate discipline especially when compared to the lone strikeout he had over his 12 plate appearances. Don't worry, those big dumper swings haven't gotten any softer.

Two of the problems that are deflating his hitting so far this year are his high strikeout rate and his subpar ground ball rate. Raleigh has usually hovered around the 28-30% strikeout rate throughout his career so that in and of itself isn't a crippling issue and is actually common amongst today's best hitters. However, when combined with a ground ball rate of 46.9%, it's made it hard for his offense to get going. His exit velocity of 92.4 mph remains top-tier so if he's able to return to hitting line drives, things could return to normalcy for Cal.

Honorable Mention: Mitch Haniger

.417/.462/.750, 5 H, 2B, 1 HR, 3 R, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K

Haniger continues to prove that his problem last year was indeed unique to the Bay Area. He has the highest OPS amongst all qualified players on the team at .847 and is doing everything he can to stabilize what has been a shaky lineup so far.

He continues to excel and has made significant improvements to his ability to hit sinkers and breaking balls since 2023. Oddly enough, his performance against four-seam fastballs is thus far the worst it's been in his career by wOBA. Nonetheless, he's made up for it by slugging .818 against sinkers and 2.000 against cutters. To prove this point, he pummeled a lazy cutter from Frankie Montas and hit it 398 feet.