Salk: 3 Mariners players crucial to Seattle completing turnaround

The Seattle Mariners are in a precarious spot because the season hits mid-June.

Is Julio Rodríguez already the Mariners’ most irreplaceable participant?

A swoon in late April and most of Might left the M’s combating with the Oakland Athletics to remain out of the cellar within the American League West. The excellent news is Seattle has rebounded to go 9-5 over its final 14 video games getting into a sequence finale at house Sunday afternoon towards the Boston Pink Sox, together with 6-3 on a latest highway journey. The Mariners stay 5 video games beneath .500 at 27-32 on the season, nevertheless, which is 9 video games under the division-leading Houston Astros.

In the meanwhile, the M’s are nonetheless within the early phases of an 11-game homestand, one that would play an enormous function in how their season finally ends up, as Seattle Sports activities’ Mike Salk defined on Friday.

“It’s enormously vital, and so they made it monumental due to what they simply did on the highway journey, successful six of 9, getting themselves again into it by beginning to play some good baseball,” Salk mentioned. “That allowed this homestand to rise in significance as a result of it’s your alternative to maintain that going and to possibly get again excessive, possibly get near .500 and begin shifting this ahead, as a result of they’re proper there. And it’s monumental as a result of sadly what they did in the beginning of the yr, they dug themselves a gap. They performed so poorly in April and particularly Might, it’s made June sequence extra vital than they need to be.”

June baseball isn’t do or die, as Salk mentioned, however struggling earlier than you get there does add a way of urgency.

“So there’s a bit of bit extra strain on you to sooner or later go on that run,” he mentioned.

And extra strain on gamers who’ve struggled to get on a run themselves, which is the place Salk took the dialog subsequent. Who do the Mariners must get on observe to offer themselves the most effective likelihood on the playoffs this yr? Salk targeted on three.

Mariners gamers whose turnarounds can be essential

• 1. Jesse Winker, LF

Winker was a starter for the Nationwide League within the 2021 All-Star Recreation, however he’s struggled to play like he did in a breakout season for the Cincinnati Reds final yr since coming to Seattle. Getting into Sunday, the 28-year-old Winker has a .209/.315/.307 slash line for a .622 OPS. That’s definitely not what the M’s anticipated after they traded for him in spring coaching.

Winker had a .950 OPS in 110 video games final yr, and it’s definitely a shock to see his slugging proportion (.307) is each decrease than his .315 on-base proportion and over 200 factors decrease than the marks he posted in each 2020 and 2021.

“I’m nonetheless simply ready for this to occur,” Salk mentioned of Winker discovering his groove on the plate. “Possibly I’m a sucker however I’m simply ready for the true Jesse Winker to indicate up. And if and when he does, and we get that .950 OPS man for the remainder of the way in which, take into consideration what that does to this lineup.”

How for much longer can the M’s look forward to Winker to provide?

If Winker goes to show issues round, he could have already got began. He hit a towering house run Friday night time and ripped a single down the road in proper subject that would have been a double Saturday, which helped him at the least get his slugging mark again over .300.

• 2. Robbie Ray, SP

One other huge Mariners offseason acquisition whose season hasn’t gone to plan up to now is the 2021 American League Cy Younger Award winner. The left-handed Ray, the scheduled starter for Sunday’s 1:10 p.m. sport on Seattle Sports activities, is 5-6 with a 4.97 ERA and 1.316 WHIP, and he’s allowed 14 house runs in 12 begins for the M’s.

The remainder of the Mariners’ rotation has usually been taking good care of enterprise these days, so getting Ray on observe can be an enormous increase.

What’s occurring with Robbie Ray this season?

“I simply don’t assume he’s appeared proper,” Salk mentioned. “He hasn’t appeared like himself. I do know you’ll be able to type of discover numbers that paint loads of completely different photos and inform completely different tales, however primarily based on what I’ve seen up to now, simply the attention check with Robbie Ray, he doesn’t appear to be the Cy Younger Award winner that they paid a boatload of cash to. And if he have been to grow to be that ace, take into consideration what that does contemplating what you’ve gotten from Logan Gilbert and the remainder of the crew. It’s a distinction maker if you may get that ace going.”

• 3. Andrés Muñoz, RP (or one other key bullpen choice)

The primary two names Salk talked about are “apparent” selections as a result of they have been huge acquisitions who got here into the season with excessive expectations, however his third selection is a bit beneath the radar. It’s additionally extra open-ended.

“The third for me is Andrés Muñoz. … Simply give me a 3rd pitcher in that ‘pen you can depend on for the seventh inning in a few of these vital video games.”

Muñoz, 23, is a proficient and hard-throwing right-hander who could possibly be the subsequent shutdown pitcher in Seattle’s bullpen, however he’s had a tough time with holding the ball within the ballpark and harnessing his stellar stuff. He has a 5.31 ERA and 1.377 WHIP in 20 1/3 innings over 22 appearances, and whereas his 25 strikeouts to 6 walks appears good, the 5 homers he’s allowed is a matter.

Salk is open to any third reliever becoming a member of Paul Sewald and a resurgent Diego Castillo as a dependable arm for supervisor Scott Servais to go to in shut video games, nevertheless. That could possibly be Erik Swanson, who returned from the injured listing Friday and had been having fun with a powerful season earlier than experiencing elbow irritation. It could possibly be Ken Giles, a veteran nearer who’s nearing his M’s debut after recovering from each Tommy John surgical procedure in 2020 and a finger harm he suffered in spring coaching. Or possibly it’s rookie Penn Murfee, who has an 0.83 ERA this season and has allowed a run in solely two of his 20 appearances.

“They should have a 3rd, and clearly it could be nice if it was Muñoz,” Salk mentioned. “If he may throw that 101 mph fastball and never have it get hit, that might be preferable, but when it seems to be Ken Giles or Swanson comes again and does even a bit of bit higher than what he did earlier than, that might be nice. They only they want one other particular person of their ‘pen.”

You may hear the complete dialogue from Friday’s The Mike Salk Present within the podcast at this hyperlink or within the participant under.

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