Enough is enough!
Enough is enough!
Common sense and good judgement are the best deterrent against panic and hyperbole.
It’s been a tumultuous two weeks for the Mariners. Since Memorial Day, Seattle has posted a 2-6 record, while being outscored 61-23 by the Yankees, Rangers, and Padres. Not ideal for a club with postseason aspirations.
Still, the amount of panic, outrage, and hand-wringing saturating social media, the blogosphere, and the air waves is tough for me to stomach.
Case in point. The Talkin’ Baseball Twitter account shared the following screenshot of a graphic used during the broadcast of the 12-3 drubbing Seattle received from Texas on Sunday. It turns out four of the five hitters with the most strikeouts in baseball were Mariners.
Naturally, blood pressures boiled in the Pacific Northwest as more and more Seattle fans were exposed to this image as the week progressed. Four Mariners were MLB leaders in strikeouts!
What’s that, you say?
Oh, those four Mariners were top-5 in the American League in strikeouts, not MLB. So, why the outrage, folks?
It’s 2023, not 1973. Nearly 28% of Mariners games will be against National League clubs. Who gives a rip about which players lead either league in a stat unless there’s an end-of-season award associated with it?
Last time I checked, there isn’t an AL or NL strikeout title for hitters.
Beyond that, even this dumb blogger knows a high strikeout total doesn’t necessarily mean a hitter isn’t productive. To see what I mean, check out the wRC+ of the 11 hitters with the highest strikeout tallies in MLB - not just the AL.
Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) quantifies how a hitter’s total offensive value compares with the league average after adjusting for park effects. League-average is always 100. Therefore, a wRC+ of 150 means a hitter was 50-percent more productive than the average player. An 80 wRC+ would be 20-percent below average.
Yes, not everyone listed below has an above-average wRC+. But eight of the 11 following names do. Another, Mariners right fielder Teoscar Hernández, is inching towards the league-average mark.
MLB Strikeout Leaders (with wRC+)
Teoscar Hernández - 83 strikeouts (96 wRC+)
Matt Olson - 82 strikeouts (132 wRC+)
Ryan McMahon - 77 strikeouts (104 wRC+)
Kyle Schwarber - 77 strikeouts (103 wRC+)
Jarred Kelenic - 76 strikeouts (129 wRC+)
Eugenio Suárez - 75 strikeouts (86 wRC+)
James Outman - 74 strikeouts (111 wRC+)
Patrick Wisdom - 74 strikeouts (107 wRC+)
Anthony Volpe - 74 strikeouts (74 wRC+)
Mike Trout - 72 strikeouts (137 wRC+)
Julio Rodríguez - 72 strikeouts (110 wRC+)
I wonder how many people complaining about the four Mariners appearing in the now-infamous graphic would resist the club acquiring Matt Olson today. After all, he has the second-most strikeouts in MLB. More than Jarred Kelenic, Eugenio Suárez, and Julio Rodríguez.
I suspect no one.
And what about Mike Trout? That bum has the tenth most strikeouts in MLB to go with 14 home runs and .265 AVG/.363 OBP/.500 SLG slash-line.
In my mind, the better way to assess the strikeout abilities of a hitter or pitcher is with their strikeout rate, which is based on plate appearances. In the case of the Mariners, this approach does brighten the picture some.
Having said that, Hernández and Kelenic are in the top-6 of the following list, which is suboptimal. To me, anything over a 30% strikeout rate is red flag territory.
MLB Strikeout Percentage Leaders
1. Patrick Wisdom - 37.6%
2. James Outman - 35.2%
3. Jack Suwinski - 33.2%
4. Teoscar Hernández - 33.1%
5. Ryan Noda - 33%
6. Jarred Kelenic - 32.6%
7. Brandon Marsh - 31.7%
8. Brandon Lowe - 31.3%
9. Ryan McMahon - 31%
10. Anthony Volpe - 31%
13. Matt Olson - 29.8%
14. Aaron Judge - 29.6%
20. Eugenio Suárez - 28.7%
25. J.D. Martinez - 27.8%
28. Mike Trout - 27.5%
30. Julio Rodríguez - 27.3%
Still, Suárez, who was number-two in Sunday’s graphic, looks much better. He ranks behind Aaron Judge. Remember him? There’s an APB out on the Yankees slugger for murdering multiple baseballs at T-Mobile Park during the Mariners’ most recent home stand.
Check it out. Rodriguez is striking out slightly less frequently than Trout and J.D. Martinez. You remember Martinez, right? He’s the free agent designated hitter a plethora of Mariners fans desperately wanted the team to sign this past offseason.
Look, I’m not trying to downplay the problem at hand - the Mariners are striking out way too much. We discussed the topic in great detail just last month. Team management has acknowledged there’s a problem. Therefore, overreacting to a misleading graphic about a known deficiency isn’t a productive use of energy from my perspective.
Yes, the Mariners aren’t playing well - especially the offense. This newsletter emphasized the lineup’s struggles at Memorial Day and for a second time earlier this week. But c’mon, folks. Just because a dark cloud is hanging over the team doesn’t mean the sky is falling.
Not yet, at least.
To be clear, I’m not telling Mariners fans how to fan. They invest their hearts, minds, time, and hard-earned money into the club. They deserve to voice their frustrations. I certainly hear from many of them on Twitter on a regular basis.
On the other hand, would it hurt to step back from the ledge at least until we see where the organization sits in mid-to-late July?
The Mariners are currently 30-31. They’re a .500 club, people. Teams hovering around the .500-mark will likely remain in contention for several more months thanks to the expanded postseason adopted last year.
That brings us to the obvious.
It’s no longer “early.” The Mariners must play better over their final 100 games. Otherwise, there will be a lot of offseason reflecting about what went wrong and how to fix it.
For now, I’m going to continue to enjoy watching the Mariners play. Doing so brings joy to my life. I hope it does the same for you.
After all, baseball is the best sport.
My Oh My…