Seattle Beat Writers and BS About the Offense.

[GL_Storm]

Is it me or does it seem that T Mobile is getting worse and worse to hit in every season??? How is that possible???

I think what we're seeing is the combined effect of today's modern pitching and the T-Mobile park effect (or multiple effects).

[ddraig]

Maybe it's time to lower the mound again?

[Vogelbomb]

Is it me or does it seem that T Mobile is getting worse and worse to hit in every season??? How is that possible???

Well, first, pitching has improved by leaps and bounds. There's also the fact that hitters are swinging more for fly balls and homers than slap singles other way. It's an entire approach. Cole Young actually said on his 710 interview that he spent first half of AA trying to drive the ball for doubles and homers and then changed that approach midseason b.c too many balls were being caught. That's why he was about .100 points better in the second half and why I think he's going to crush AAA immediately

So pitching and approach are the first two. And a third factor that I think gets no credit is defense. Players today are more athletic, faster, better coached. Far fewer balls reach the grass than what used to hit the grass. Alignment and depth is better due to the analytics in scouting.

I mean it's such a little thing you don't think of, but I'm telling you defense today is far and away better than it was in the 90s and early 2000s

[Vogelbomb]

Maybe it's time to lower the mound again?

lower it and back it up. Why can't pitchers throw from 62' rather than 60?

[rockycola]

Is it me or does it seem that T Mobile is getting worse and worse to hit in every season??? How is that possible???

Well, first,.....

So pitching and approach are the first two. And a third factor that I think gets no credit is defense. Players today are more athletic, faster, better coached. Far fewer balls reach the grass than what used to hit the grass. Alignment and depth is better due to the analytics in scouting.

I mean it's such a little thing you don't think of, but I'm telling you defense today is far and away better than it was in the 90s and early 2000s

Defense is a huge factor what with what you stated in the above paragraph. Still, the abysmal lack of successful, consistent ability to drive the ball, get on base and produce runs by the M's is ineptitude by Jerry and the ownership. They are the last factor and they are the curse that forever caps possibilities and hope at 54%.

Circling back to the defensive aspect, I wonder what Perry Hill thinks about the parade of 2B failures he is given year after year. He's the fielding guru and has helped so many mlb players improve their fielding and careers but I don't know if he's ever had the challenges the M's have given him. "Hey Perry, we just got a shipment of fresh 2nd base meat for ya. Do your magic, willya?!. No. No, don't worry about their bats. This is the Pacific Northwest; second basemen don't hit here in Marinerland."

Hard to believe I started talking about Perry Hill here (S.T. Forum) 16-17 years ago. Nobody that was on our forum back then knew who I was talking about. His ideas and fielding philosophy is very intriguing.
I tried to incorporate his 6 "F's" of fielding into my Little League players that I coached.

Geez, that's like a long ass time ago.

And all this time, we're still waiting for Seattle to win.
Sad and still just shaking my head in Mariner agony

[Seattle or Bust]

I don’t get why the numbers are so polarized at T-Mobile.

Julio dropped like a .900 OPS his rookie year at home and then couldn’t hit there last year.

Ty France seemingly really enjoyed hitting at T-mobile… was far better at home than on the road as an M.

Then you have Luke Raley and Victor Robles who dominated at T-Mobile last season.

Why Cal cannot hit there is anyone’s guess. Perhaps it’s a visual thing and now mental. Different strokes for different folks I guess?

[bpj]

In 2024 there were 59% of qualified hitters (76/129 = 59%) that had a batting average above .250.

In 2007 there were 90% of qualified hitters (145/162 = 90%) that had a batting average above .250



A few months ago I posted this showing the average fastball velocity now compared to 2007. It's definitely the quality of pitching talent has gone up that has led to offense going down.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9617&start=50#p308811

Screenshot_20250129_132340_Brave.jpg (299.37 KiB) Viewed 971 times

[D-train]

Yep the improvement in pitching mechanic seems to be an unstoppable force and the limitation on hitter reaction time doesn't is the immovable object but in the this case the force destroy the object.

[bpj]

Yep the improvement in pitching mechanic seems to be an unstoppable force and the limitation on hitter reaction time doesn't is the immovable object but in the this case the force destroy the object.

Yeah, you add the increase in understanding of what makes good pitching, and you combine that with drawing from a worldwide talent pool, and it's no surprise that watching old black and white baseball is literally LOL funny.

Those goofy old farmboys would never survive in today's game.

[Seattle or Bust]

The game is honestly a pretty boring watch given the lack of offense.

Never was a more fun time in baseball during the roid era for that reason. It made the off 1-hitter with 15K games that much more special when it happened. The pitchers who dominated that era: Randy, Pedro, etc... were true aces.

Every night last year it was, "this pitcher has a no hitter going into the 7th!!! how amazing!!!" ... no, offense is just shit.