The Seattle Mariners enter play on Wednesday at 33-29 and in first place in the American League West. Winners of eight straight games, the M's are going for a sweep of the New York Mets at 12:40 p.m. PT.

And while there have been a lot of heroes in the M's recent turnaround, they wouldn't be where they are without the steadiness of right-handed pitcher Emerson Hancock.

Routinely labeled as the sixth-man in the rotation for much of 2024 and 2025, Hancock transitioned to a bullpen arm at the end of the 2025 campaign. Heading into this season, it was unclear what role he'd fill, but with the early season injury to Bryce Miller, Hancock found himself in the rotation again at the outset of the campaign.

And it appears like he's there to stay. Through 12 starts, the former first-round pick from Georgia is 4-2 with a 2.80 ERA, with 70 strikeouts in 70.2 innings. He has only 15 walks and has posted a WHIP of 0.95.

And while a lot of the attention on Hancock's coming-out party has been about velocity increases (95.1 mph, up from 94.9 last season and 93.4 in 2024), his evolution is about much more than that, as we discussed on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast.

"I remember him last May in San Diego, starting against the Padres and going 5-plus innings, I think, and throwing 97 miles an hour. We were all wowed by it.

I caught up with Emerson Hancock later in the season, it might've been in Chicago with the White Sox. I think that's it.

And he's like, "Look, I'm just gonna throw as hard as I can for as long as I can." It was all about velocity.

Then when he transitioned to the bullpen, it was about, "Okay, can he be a weapon because of how hard he's throwing?" And this year, it was about, "Oh, the velocity's up to 96, 97. Okay, can he keep the velocity?"

Everything has been so velocity-predicated for Emerson Hancock, I think, for a lot of the season. And what we're seeing is, yeah, he throws hard, and that all helps, but he's truly pitching.

Velocity is always going to be something that helps pitchers. It's always going to be something that they want. It's always gonna be something that they chase. And having velocity can get you out of a lot of trouble that not having velocity can't.

So, Emerson Hancock has the velocity, but he also, again, just has this bevy of offerings and the ability to throw strikes with all of it, and that has been so impressive.

Ninety-one pitches for Emerson Hancock on Monday. Fifteen pitches an inning. Incredibly efficient.

We saw 41 percent four-seamers. We saw 23 percent sinkers. So look, we saw 64 percent of his pitches that are relatively high velocity, 94-ish miles an hour or above. So he was still utilizing the heat and going after guys with it.

But 20 percent sweepers, 12 percent cutters, some bigger, loopier curveballs, some changeups as well. It just makes me happy in a velocity-driven world to see guys who are truly pitching.

And again, Emerson Hancock is truly pitching.

Hancock earned another quality start on Monday in the win vs. the Mets, giving up just two runs on two hits over six innings. He walked none and struck out seven.

He'll pitch again over the weekend as the Mariners visit the Detroit Tigers.

You can listen to the latest 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast here, or you can watch the episode on YouTube. The episode features Anderson Hirst of 93.3 KJR and the Locked on Mariners Post-Cast. The next episode comes out on Thursday.

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