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.

Mariner's Best Pitcher: Bryce Miller

6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR

Miller continued his scorching hot start to the season by pitching a gem in the final game of the series. After giving up just one earned run in six innings of work, he has a 1.85 ERA and 0.82 WHIP over his first four starts. An interesting note about his most recent start was that he garnered just six swings and misses but still managed to put together seven strikeouts. How? Paint.

The deadly four-seam fastball/sinker was truly leaving Reds hitters dazed and confused. While the latter is more often used as a soft contact pitch, it's extremely effective when placed well. However, he continues to rely on his splitter most heavily as his strikeout tool and it boasts a 38.1% strikeout rate as opposed to the 8.3% rate on his sinker.

Another interesting note is that he seems to be dialing back the usage of his slider and increasing the usage of his sweeper. In his start against the Reds, he threw just three sliders while throwing 12 sweepers. Although it was one of his better pitches last year, it has been struggling this year and batters were averaging .400 against it while the sweeper has yet to concede a hit in 22 pitches thrown.

Honorable Mention: Logan Gilbert

6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

A very close competitor for Miller's spot as best pitcher, Gilbert had a quality start of his own in the second game of the series. Holding the Reds to a single measly run, he had very similar numbers to Miller, garnering just eight swings and misses but striking out six. His slider and four-seam fastball did the majority of the heavy lifting but he was also getting some good results with his splitter. So far this season, his splitter has a wicked 80% strikeout rate and batters are averaging just .071 against it.

He's got an ERA of 2.33 and a WHIP of 0.78 so far so it's safe to say that for now, Miller and Gilbert are locking down the rest of the rotation.