**Seattle Mariners 2024 Season Thread ** | 6-8 | v. Cubs & Reds |

[651akathepaul]

Carp would be nice to have around.

I want Zunino up bad.

 

[proshares]

I have hope as a fan of his but not as a baseball fan in general if that makes sense. The bat just isn't there for some reason. It's looking like one of those things that look great in AA or AAA but against real pitching, it disappears. He was never going to be a consistent 30 HR guy but he was supposed to be a go 20-25 HR 40 2B kinda gap to gap hitter. I haven't seen one AB this year where he drove the ball with authority. It's early but you don't wanna wait around forever and waste prime years of guys while he shows he's another Smoak, you know?

 

[a55a5in11]

Akley was so nice his rookie year too. Dude never swung at bad pitches and always made contact when he did swing. Now it's like a whole new player out there. And his swing and stance is arguably one of the worst in the last decade. Dudes going out there thinking he's on his cal Ripken swagger

 

[checks grossman]

Ack's gone back to his original swing just in the last week or so.

And heres a piece on Mike Zunino and just how ready he is to be called up.

Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

 These numbers could be somewhat incorrect, but the general idea is probably right.
Mike Zunino has the same contact rate as Carlos Peguero. He’s making less contact than Eric Thames or Alex Liddi. We’ve seen these guys at the big league level, and we’ve seen how major league pitchers exploit an overly aggressive approach. Despite their power, they’ve flopped in the majors, because they simply don’t control the strike zone well enough to be real offensive contributors.

Zunino is better than these guys, and the bar for offensive production is lower because he’s a catcher, but if Triple-A pitchers are getting him to miss on 30% of his swings, you shouldn’t expect him to do much better against Major League pitchers, and the list of Major League hitters who have succeeded with contact rates in the below 70% is very small.

Long term, I don’t think this is going to be a huge problem. Zunino posted a very high contact rate in his short stint in Jackson last year, and he’s shown a good approach at the plate both in college and in his prior minor league stints. We’re dealing with a sample of 126 pitches. The first 126 pitches a guy has seen from Triple-A pitchers. Pitch selection is something that improves with experience, and Zunino has very little.
But that’s why the minor leagues exist. They’re not just for fringe big leaguers to hang around and wait for someone to get hurt. Zunino is getting valuable experience against guys who can spin breaking balls and get him to chase pitches out of the zone. He’s good enough to punish their mistakes, but he also needs to learn how to lay off pitches that he can’t destroy. It is better for Zunino to learn those things in the minor leagues. Not only should the organization should be hesitant to start his service time clock, the Mariners should be hesitant to expose yet another young player to a frustrated fan base that is used to seeing every offensive prospect turn into a bust. If the Mariners bring Zunino up and he hits like Aaron Hicks has in Minnesota or Jackie Bradley Jr has in Boston, it could be damaging to both his development and the psyche of an already frustrated fan base.

Because of how fast he rose through the minors, Buster Posey is the often used optimistic comparison for Zunino. During his 359 plate appearances in Triple-A, Posey posted a 14.7% strikeout rate. Not only did the Giants give him a half season at the minors highest level, they also didn’t give him a regular job until he showed he wasn’t fooled by minor league pitchers. Given how well he performed after getting the call, you could argue that he might have been ready earlier, and I’m not sure Zunino will need 359 Triple-A plate appearances before he’s ready for the majors, but I would like to see him controlling the strike zone better than he is right now.
And that’s not something that you can rush. The power is tempting, but undisciplined power hitters get to the big leagues and get exposed all the time. The Mariners should avoid getting seduced by the power and evaluate how well the total package will work in the Majors. Until he starts making better contact, it’s best to let him get that experience in the minors. He’ll be ready soon, but rushing him won’t help Zunino or the Mariners.

http://www.ussmariner.com/2013/04/15/why-mike-zunino-needs-more-seasoning/

And this was prior to his 0-20 skid he was just going through. Last thing we need is to disrupt his progression.

 

[651akathepaul]

Nice read on Zunino. Thanks, Checks.

Yeah, Hicks looks HORRIBLE for Minnesota right now. Completely lost and outmatched. I still have a good feeling about Zunino if he were to be brought up today, but I can wait.

 

[proshares]

Yea he needs to stick to one swing. Look at what Bochy and the staff did to Brandon Belt in SF. The kid has changed his stance and hand locations twice a year because of their instruction and he's gone from top prospects to a bench bat.

Side note, I always thought it said Cheeks not Checks

 

[do work son]

Hi Felix

 

[651akathepaul]

Felix and Seager vs. Houston.

 

[DsLee]

Now this is what playing the Astros is supposed to be like...

 

[a55a5in11]

And there goes guti

 

[elpablo21]

And there goes guti

and considering how well the Astros were hitting in Safeco each team should switch home ballparks

win-win

 

[checks grossman]

Side note, I always thought it said Cheeks not Checks 

 

[651akathepaul]

Welp...I mean runs? Looks like?

 

[Sinner]

All right! 100 baby!

Good day for Ack too.. hopefully his season starts now?

What is Kuma wearing!?  Jordans!?

 

[elpablo21]

Good day for everybody we took a dump on the last few pages

 

[do work son]

Good day for everybody huh?

Ack's bomb was crushed, not many people get the second deck. Montero's bomb might have went the furthest I've seen in a while. Ball was destroyed.

Morse had some monster shots in BP...And a lot of ground outs


edit: i meant seager's bomb, don't know why i said ackley

 

[elpablo21]

Good day for everybody huh?

 

[do work son]

i was gonna go to the game tonight to watch iwakuma pitch too, he's on the fantasy squad. interesting to see if the blister bothers him.

i was reading back through here and saw some ackley slander. i think he's just working through mechanical issues. not saying he'll be a stud, but i don't expect him to be as bad as he has been. in BP he was changing his swing through the rounds. his first few swings he had a leg kick and was gliding towards the ball which just seemed like too much movement. next few rounds he kept it way more simple, less movement, and hit the ball better. the second swing is the one he took into the game

 

[651akathepaul]

Raul

 

[elpablo21]

Welp

 

[checks grossman]

There was some good and some bad to take from this game, though. *shrugs*

Shout out to Raul, Brendan, and Eric Wedge too. 

 

[Sinner]

Kendrys homer was 

But... welp. 

 

[booradley]

Raul

That guy is a absolute liability in left field. He has the grace and fielding presence of a grizzly bear on roller skates. Hopefully Saunders comes through tomorrow and wills the team to its first series victory of the year.

 

[Sinner]

What... Wedge giving Andino MORE time over Ryan?  Both can't hit jack, but at least Ryan can play D! 

 

[a55a5in11]

Anyone going to the game Friday? This is gonna be my 4th but I can't see my self going again for a few months.