The Mariners have dominated these 10 hitters throughout their history
Every so often, you'll get a great feeling when you see an opposing hitter step to the plate. Here are the 10 hitters that the Mariners have dominated the most
We already took a look at the opposing hitters that have kept Mariners fans (and likely pitchers) up at night, dreading the nightmare that is to come as they step into the box. Let's kick those to the curb, and think instead about the ones that calm our nerves knowing that the Mariners have their number.
As we've done so far in this series, I'm breaking it up into three categories. The hitters that have seen struggles in limited plate appearances against the Mariners. Then, those who spent the better part of their careers by not understanding how to hit the Mariners. Finally, we finish up with the ones who put together nearly an entire season's worth of stats looking like AA hitters playing in the bigs.
I put the cut at 20 AB, but a special shout out to Al Pardo, who went 0-10 with a .000/.000/.000 slash line against the Mariners, never making it on base.
Matt Vierling: 0-20, .000/.048/.000, 0 R, 0 RBI, 1 BB, 6 K
Matt Vierling has the worst success of anyone to ever face the Mariners with a minimum of 20 AB. He walked once, and that was the only time he ever made it on base. You would think that he would've lucked into a hit at some point, but it just hasn't happened yet. He is only 27, so he will likely get one at some point. It's funnier when you realize he is actually a decent hitter so far, hitting .261 over 875 AB in his career. Yes, I know that he will likely hit a homer against the Mariners in 2024 now that I wrote this.
Rob Mackowiak: 0-20, .000/.077/.000, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 7 K
A little more success for Mackowiak here, as he at least drove in a run and scored twice against the Mariners. Other than that, it was a healthy helping of strikeouts for the catcher who played nearly a decade. He found success against the Orioles going 16-35 with a .743 SLG, but evened that out by playing the Mariners.
Josh Harrison: 5-57, .088/.103/.140, 4 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 9 K
I wanted to add Harrison in here because he's still playing and hasn't been able to figure out the Mariners at all. He puts the ball in play a lot with just 9 Ks, but hasn't done anything with it. The one walk stands out as well, as that is just an abysmal rate. He went 2-20 against the Pirates, but has hit .219 or better against every other team in baseball. At least he hit a double and a triple against the Mariners, but didn't even manage one of his 91 career steals against the Mariners.
Chris Ianetta: 18-140, .129/.220/.193, 3 2B, 2 HR, 8 R, 11 RBI, 47 K
We kick off the next group with the short-lived stint as a Mariners catcher in Chris Ianetta. He had the 8th most ABs against the Mariners of anyteam he ever faced, but they had the most success against him of any team in baseball. He walked a bit, drove in 11 RBI, but struck out at an impressive 29.6% rate, over 2.5 times as often as he got a hit against the Mariners.
Josh Donaldson: 52-289, .180/.234/.367, 15 2B, 13 HR, 19 BB, 77 K
I think this one might make a lot of people happy, as he isn't the most likeable guy depending on who you root for (or against). His worst BA, worst OBP, and 3rd worst SLG are against the Mariners, who dominated Donaldson throughout his career. Funny enough, he actually hit well in Seattle, and hit a terrible .144/.182/.322 while playing in his home stadium against the Mariners.
Brian McRae: 38-204, .204/.276/.270, 7 2B, 2 HR, 22 RBI, 36 K
McRae was just worse against the Mariners (52 OPS+) than the Rays (56 OPS+), so they once again take the title as best against a player here. McRae had just 11 XBH against the Mariners and went an ugly 3 for 7 trying to steal bases. When your OPS+ is under 550, you know you're struggling. McRae just couldn't figure it out against Seattle over his ten-yea
Carlos Pena: 64-308, .208/.307/.360, 15 2B, 10 HR, 26 RBI, 94 K
Now we get into it. The people who went their entire and were just never able to figure it out against the Mariners. We start off with Pena, who amassed half a season's worth of ABs against the Mariners. It may look like he did alright with a .360 SLG, but when you realize that 25 of his 64 hits were XBH, there really wasn't a lot of damage done, especially with only 26 RBI. That 30% K rate is nice, also.
Mickey Tettleton: 87-392, .222/.323/.395, 11 2B, 17 HR, 51 R, 119 K
Speaking of a 30% K rate, Tettleton did the same in 100 more ABs. He scored a fair amount of runs for struggling to get on base, but didn't do much else. It's worth noting on some of these "older" players that these numbers are based on averages that were a lot higher than we see in today's game, so it's more in line with a .205/.305 slash line. I'll always remember Tettleton for his crazy stance at the plate, and it seems like it wasn't able to distract the Mariners at all.
Kurt Suzuki: 91-414, .220/.273/.350, 33 XBH, 37 R, 51 K
The most recent career player on this list saw the Mariners a lot, put the ball in play a lot, but it never amounted to much. It's actually impressive that he had such a low K rate, with just 51 in 400+ ABs. Limiting him to 37 R is just as impressive too, as whenever Suzuki was involved with a play, it ended up going in the Mariners favor.
Kenny Lofton: 102-422, .242/.319/.334, 21 XBH, 67 R, 52 K
I had to save this one for the end, just because Lofton was one of my favorite players, and easily one of my favorite non-Mariners as a kid. He stole bases like a madman and ended up a career .299/.372/.423 hitter, but the Mariners held him in check in over 100 games. It's even more impressive when you realize that out of the top 5 teams to succeed against Lofton (keeping him to a sub .270 BA) the Mariners were the only ones to play him more than 45 games.
Not a ton of huge names on this list, but still a good mix of great and darn good players. It's nice knowing that there are some players the Mariners were able to dominate at the plate throughout their careers.