Dipoto said a lot of things over about a 30-minute period, but one thing stuck out above the rest.
On Monday, Seattle Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto spoke to the media following a difficult 76-86 season that saw the team move on from manager Dan Wilson and a number of high-profile coaches.
Dipoto said an awful lot over a 30-minute period, but there was one thing that really stuck out to me.
I'm paraphrasing, but essentially, Dipoto said that a number of M's players had referenced that things they were taught in player development were "abondaned" at the major league level.
While I can't sit here and pretend to know everything that the players are referencing, there is one thing that has been on my mind for months, and I previously talked about this on the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast: What happened to the philosophy of "controlling the zone?"
Control the Zone mantra
On its face, controlling the zone is a simple yet effective plan. You want to swing at strikes, you want to pass on balls. You want to draw walks when you are able to as a result, and you want to ambush pitches that are hittable in the zone.
It's not all about drawing walks, but you do want to put yourself in advantageous counts which allow you a better chance of doing damage.
Since the Mariners came out of this rebuild (2021), let's take a look at their basic walk numbers.
| Year | Walk rank |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 |
| 2022* | 3 |
| 2023 | 13 |
| 2024 | 4 |
| 2025* | 9 |
| 2026 | 10 |
Again, it's not all about walk rate, but it's worth noting that two of the seasons in which the Mariners were in the Top 10, they made the playoffs. Two others, of course, they didn't. So, lets dig a little deeper.
How about chase rate?
Again, it's not all about drawing walks, it's about swinging at good pitches that you can do damage to and not helping the pitcher out.
The major league chase rate this season was: 33.1 percent.
Please note that the following Mariners are not listed in order, they are just based on the order we looked them up. It's also not every hitter who appeared for the Mariners.
| Mariners player | Chase rate | Better than average (Y/N) |
|---|---|---|
| Cal Raleigh | 35.8 | N |
| Josh Naylor | 37.8 | N |
| Julio Rodriguez | 38.6 | N |
| Cole Young | 30.6 | Y |
| Randy Arozarena | 30.6 | Y |
| J.P. Crawford | 19.7 | Y |
| Colt Emerson | 38.9 | N |
| Dominic Canzone | 34.5 | N |
| Luke Raley | 34.6 | N |
| Brendan Donovan | 25.3 | Y |
As you can see, several of the M's lineup regulars were above league average in chase rate, which is a sign of not controlling the zone. These players either chased themselves into strikeouts too often, or chased themselves into weak contact too often.
If the Mariners are going to be better in 2027, they are going to have to do a better job at handling the strike zone. Whoever the next hitting coaches are, are going to have drill down on this topic to help them get better pitches to hit.
Why is this change happening?
I've long wondered if "controlling the zone" was truly abandoned at the major league level, OR: Do the Mariners have so many players from outside the organization that didn't grow up with this philosophy that just simply can't change the hitters they've always been?
Also, as current Mariners get older and further removed from the minors, have they just kind of grown out of it and "forgotten" what they were taught?
Over the last several years, the M's have relied on hitters from outside the organization like Canzone, Raley, Teoscar Hernandez, Eugenio Suarez, Arozarena and Naylor. Is that what's happening?
It's too hard to tell, considering guys like Arozarena and Brendan Donovan still do a good job at the philosophy.
