rookie midfielder Jose CaballeroThe first call to the Mariners’ roster is supposed to be short-lived to provide some depth while utility staff Sam Haggerty dealing with concussions, but he’s betting that chance on a bigger role. As Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times writeshe made a big impression on his manager Scott Servais.
“Since the day he showed up here, he’s been fearless of anything,” Servais said of Caballero, praising the player’s running, batting and defensive abilities. 26 year old player. “…He understands how to play and doesn’t back down.” Baseball team president Jerry Dipoto also had similar praise, to Corey Brock of The Athletic that Caballero was “great in every way.”
Caballero has really impressed, soaring to .276/.321/.431 with a pair of home players, three doubles and a 6 to 6 on the ball in his first 24 games. him (70 appearances). He’s had a bit of luck with the balls in play (0.33), but even if his average steps back a bit, the 11.4% walk will keep the share rate. His basic hundred is very high.
Discipline plate is also not a small sample; Caballero has a career walk rate of 13% in his teens and has chased throws off the plate at a lower rate than the average major jumper so far in his youth career. his. Statcast also credits him with a 92nd-percent sprint, so there’s good reason to believe he can keep swiping with a high success rate.
Caballero’s instantly powerful play shines brighter mount struggle of the second veteran Kolten Wong, whose .177/.259/.208 batting (108 appearances, 40 wRC+) ranks among the worst in baseball. Wong’s 20.4% hit rate is the worst of his career, and he’s also had the worst exposure difficulty of his career (85 mph average exit speed). , 24% strong collision). Statcast ranks Wong in the fifth percentile among MLB players or lower in each hit rate, average bounce rate, barrel rate, average expected hit rate, expected miss rate and expected wOBA. His one-plus sprint speed also dropped to the 37th percentile.
After such a lousy start to the season, Wong has begun to give way in second place to Caballero. The rookie has had five starts in second place since the last time Wong’s name was included in the starting lineup. Wong is already on the bench, but the Mariners will have to figure out how to arrange their pitch and bench combination long before that. Mariners GM Justin Hollander told reporters yesterday that the utility dylan moore can be restored from the injured list during the team’s current home stay (Twitter link via Divish).
Moore, who signed a three-year, $8.875 million deal in the winter to buy his final seasons of refereeing and a year of free agents, is still out of action in 2023 due to an oblique injury and core injury. However, he has played in four minor league rehab games and the team clearly believes he can return to the major league roster with just a few more games. The current homestay runs until May 31.
Moore, 30, has had a period of ups and downs with the Mariners since debuting in 2019, alternating between poor and strong performances on a year-to-date basis. He is a player who scored .208/.317/.384 in his career, though as evidenced by .255/.358/.496 appearances in 159 appearances across the board in 2020 and .224/. 368/.385 in 255 appearances across the board last year, he has a lot of basing abilities and some highlights in his batman. Moore has 35 home runs and 65 steals in 381 career games, and he’s ranked defensively in second-base, third-base and in both outfield corners.
Seattle’s bench now includes backup catchers Tom MurphyThe aforementioned Haggerty (who has minimal playtime so far) and struggling veterans Wong and Pollock AJ. With the exception of an injury elsewhere in the squad, it’s likely someone on that bench group will be substituted when Moore returns. Haggerty is left with minor league picks and that route will maintain more depth, but he beat 0.256/.335/.403 last season in 201 appearances, demonstrating plenty of room for defense. own flexibility. The Mariners will have to weigh that against the poor starts of both Wong and Pollock to determine their preferred course of action.
The Mariners are also predicting a return to normal for several key bull arms (Twitter link via Divish). Closer Andres Munoz and right Penn Murfee both are expected to join the Mariners on their upcoming trip, which runs from June 1-11. Munoz held bullfighting sessions, and Murfee responded well to injections of platelet-rich plasma. Both will need quick adjustments during the minor league rehabilitation period, but they only have a few weeks left.
Munoz, 24, became one of the best clearances in baseball in 2022 when he pitched to an ERA 2.49 with an excellent 38.7% hit rate to go rate. set of 6%. He hit a whopping 100.3 mph average speed on his heater and his 21.6% fluctuating strike rate just after Edwin Diaz out of all major league pitchers with at least 50 innings.
Meanwhile, Murfee has thrown 82 innings 1/3 of a 2.73 ERA ball since his MLB debut last year. He took out 27.9% of his opponents compared to an 8.3% walk rate without showing the kind of platoon split many teammates tend to do. The lefties only hit 0.210/.297/.305 ahead of Murfee, while the right-handers posted an even more dire .165/.232/.303 slash.
