2020 Seattle Mariners Preview – MLB Preview & Prediction
The Mariners did not really do much last year and ended up being one team that faded away last season during the season. What else was a difference was the fact that the Mariners became sellers at the trade deadline. Now, those trades that the Mariners did make were interesting in the fact that the Mariners did secure some decent prospects, but the prospects could be a couple of years off from making the jump to helping the Mariners be competitive this season.
Seattle Mariners Starters
The starting rotation for the Mariners is one point that could be a strength, but it could only be if the Mariners pitchers are able to stay healthy and continue to pitch good all year. The downside is the consistent pitching for the Mariners has been the issue for the Mariner. The ace for the staff is Marco Gonzales followed up by Yusei Kikuchi, Taijuan Walker, Justus Sheffield and Kendall Graveman. Last year for the Mariners Gonzales pitched in a total of 34 games with 203 innings pitched. Marco Gonzales struck out only 147 batters while posting a 16-13 record with a 3.99 ERA.
Seattle Mariners Relievers
The bullpen for the Mariners is pretty much the polar opposite of the potential strength of the Mariners. The bullpen for the Mariners could be questionable all year long and honestly may be seen as one of the weak points for the Mariners. The bullpen consist of Carl Edwards Jr., Dan Altavilla, Brandon Brennan, Taylor Guilbeau, and Nestor Cortes Jr. The closer is slated to be Yoshihisa Hirano or Matt Magill. Hirano is projected to close and last year he played in 62 games for the Diamondbacks with 53 innings pitched. He did strike out 61 batters and posted a 5-5 record with 1 save, but blew 5 saves and posted a 4.75 ERA.
Seattle Mariners Catchers
The catchers for the Mariners is coming in with 2 on the depth chart. The main catcher is slated to be Tom Murphy. He is backed up by Austin Nola, who also backs up at first base as well. Last season Murphy played in 75 games for the Mariners with a .273 average with some pop in his bat to get 18 homers with 40 RBIs. When it comes to throwing out the runners Murphy was able to throw out 39.4% of the runners.
Seattle Mariners Corners
The corners for the Mariners could be fairly good at the corners this year. First bases is manned by Evan White and third has Kyle Seager playing at it. The backup for both positions, though, could be overworked as it is Austin Nola. Now the big question mark for the Mariners is how well White will adapt to the major. He is a rookie this year with no experience in the majors. On the other side is Seager who is very experienced in the majors. Last season for the Mariners Seager played in 106 games with a .239 average, but hit 23 homers and brought home 63 runners.
Seattle Mariners Middle Infield
Shed Long is the top spot in the depth chart for second base, but the shortstop position is slated to be J.P. Crawford. Neither one of these players provide a name flash, but could be consistent for the Mariners. Dee Gordon backs up at second and Dylan Moore is the backup at short. Last season for the Mariners Long played in 42 games and hit at a clip of .263 and hit 5 homers and brought home 15 runners. Crawford for his part played in 93 games for the Mariners in 2019 with an average of .226 while hitting 7 homers and bringing home 46 runners.
Seattle Mariners Outfield
When it comes to the outfield the Mariners are sorely lacking in depth as Jake Fraley backs up all three positions. The starting left fielder is Mitch Haniger, in center the Mariners have Mallex Smith and Kyle Lewis starting in right field. Last season Haniger played in only 63 games and hit at a clip of .220 with 15 homers and 32 runners brought home. For Smith, he was able to play in 134 games while hitting at a clip of .227 with only 6 homers and 37 runners brought home. The Mariners with Lewis only managed to get 18 games out of him and he hit at a clip of .268 while hitting 6 balls out of the park and bringing home 13 runners.
Seattle Mariners Designated Hitter
The designated hitter spot tends to be a good hitter and that is Daniel Vogelbach for the Mariners this year. Last year Vogelbach played in 144 games for the Mariners and did some time at first. He did manage to hit at a clip of .208, but provided 30 homers and 76 runners back around to the plate.
Seattle Mariners Prediction
The Mariners were sellers at the end of the trade deadline last year and got quite a bit of young talent. However, the talent is unproven in the majors and this year some of it will be on the field, but it still does not help raise my confidence in the Mariners as a team. What else does not bode well for the Mariners is their hitters cannot really hit for average or for that matter much power. Look for the Mariners to be a low scoring team and probably finish in the bottom 2 of the AL West.
