Just Another Mariner Monday - 3.30.26
Time to highlight the best, lowlight the worst, and set the tone for the week ahead.
In the past four days, we, the collective Mariners fanbase, have already experienced the time honored traditions of:
Questioning bullpen decisions
Leaving runners in scoring position
Lineup Construction
Online pissing matches
That’s right, Mariners baseball is back, baby. The four months of cold, dark Marinerless days have quickly been replaced by the roaring fires of frustration, memes and questioning why I choose to subject myself to this 162 times a year - and despite having a now average bedtime of 1:30am EST, I truly could not be happier.
This season, I will plan on doing quick weekly recaps on Mondays, where I will review the best and worst from the previous week. I will also provide a glimpse of what’s coming up, both for the Mariners, and myself in the week ahead.
Let’s get to it.
Hitter of the Week: Brendan Donovan
18 PAs, 2 HR, 4 R, 4 RBI, 4 SB — .429/.556/.929 — 304 WRC+
To be honest, this could have easily gone to either Dominic Canzone (1.000 SLG) or Luke Raley (tres dingerinos) as well - but given this was Donovan’s debut in a Mariners uniform, we decided to go with the nine win player himself.
Donovan made about as impactful of a debut as possible, homering on the fifth pitch he saw, becoming the first ever Mariner to lead-off a season with a home run in the organization’s 50 year history.
Perhaps equally as important, Donovan provided positive results against left handed pitching, going 2-4 with a pair of singles over the weekend. The Mariners likely tipped their hand early with how they will use Brendan Donovan against LHP, as Donovan was batting sixth on Saturday against left handed starter Joey Cantillo.
Donovan is coming off a 2025 season in which he posted a .614 OPS (75 WRC+) against left handed pitching in 169 PAs, but despite this, Donovan still posted a .775 OPS (119 WRC+) overall. Any type of improvement from Donovan against LHP would be a welcome addition, especially if it means Donovan’s plate approach can stay at the top of the Mariners line-up permanently.
Pitcher of the Week: Emerson Hancock (!?!?)
6 IP, 9 Ks, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 0 H
Talk about a complete 180 result for Emerson Hancock compared to his last season debut.
In last season’s debut, Hancock never made it out of the first inning, allowing 7 hits and 6 runs while recording zero strikeouts to a relatively unimpressive Detroit Tigers offense.
In this season’s debut? Hancock never let Cleveland get out of first gear, throwing six shutout innings with 9 strikeouts, while featuring an absolutely devastating sweeper that led to more than one audible gasp from the NBC Broadcast booth, which you can hear starting at the 1:10 mark:
There is really no other way to put it, Emerson Hancock was untouchable last night, as evident by his 12.5% HardHit rate and most noticeably, his 42.9% whiff rate against his sweeper.
Though Hancock will still likely be replaced by Bryce Miller upon his return from the IL, Hancock will almost certainly see his stuff play up as a multi-inning reliever when that day comes. Thought Hancock was dominant for the six innings he pitched, he noticeably saw dips in his sitting velocity after the first two innings, but still had enough in the tank to touch 94-95 when he needed to as his start went along.
Last night showed a lot of Mariners fans what the organization had reportedly been seeing through camp from Hancock, and likely has calmed the minds of some for Hancock to cover starts through the year as need be.
If the sweeper continues to be the swing and miss pitch it was on Sunday night, Hancock has the makings of a serviceable backend starter, or potentially that of a very effective multi-inning leverage reliever.
C.H.O.N.E of the Week: Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh and Josh Naylor
Combined: 54 PAs, 3 Hs, 1 XBH, 2 R, 2 RBI, 19 K, 9 BB
Listen, normally we will only identify one hitter a week when discussing C.H.O.N.E (Can’t Hit Or Nurture Effectively), but given the collective long wet fart that Julio, Cal and Naylor produced through the four game series, exceptions were made.
Simply put, the Mariners 2-3-4 hitters, were, well…
Thanks for that, Mr. Ralphio.
The fact that the Mariners went 2-2 against Cleveland despite the middle of the order doing just about everything they could from preventing it is truly a testament to how deep the lineup has the potential of being if/when it all clicks at once.
Now, this is baseball, and the lineup as a whole very likely will not all click at once for more than a handful of series throughout the year, but past iterations of the Seattle Mariners would’ve been looking 0-4 in the face if they had gotten that type of result from the heart of the order.
If we’re looking for silver linings, it’s that the middle of the order might not have another series all year where they collectively look THIS bad - but if we are looking at the normal, dark, ‘same ole Mariners’ side of things, I suppose we could be concerned that Cal struck out at a 55% clip over the weekend, with his only extra base hit coming from a 246 ft ground rule double.
Noodle of the Week: Eduard Bazardo
1.2 IP, 9 batters faced, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 ER, 1 H
Admittedly, we’re running with Noodle of the Week as the name for the least effective pitching performance of the week because, well, I can’t think of anything else. If you can think of an acronym you’d like to see here, please respond in the comments!
For the most part, the Mariners pitching held it together pretty well over the weekend (though how they may have been deployed is a different topic). An argument can be made for Andrés Muñoz, given the results of the 10th inning on Saturday, but given Brendan Donovan’s throw to first, and Chase DeLauter’s absurdity, I didn’t feel great putting much of that on Muñoz himself.
Eduard Bazardo on the other hand, walked three of the nine batters he faced, and generally did not look sharp in his two appearances. There are plenty of arguments to be made against how long Bazardo was left in on Saturday, and whether or not he should have been pulled for the batter he faced, but the results are unfortunately the results.
The starting rotation put the Mariners in position to win each game this weekend, and though not all of the blame can be placed on the bullpen (looking at you RISP), they were still a meaningful part of the problem. The bullpen will need to perform much better throughout this year if the Mariners plan to go where they are looking to.
What’s Ahead - Schedule and Probables
March 30th - April 1st - vs. Yankees
Monday: Luis Castillo vs. Ryan Weathers
Tuesday: Logan Gilbert vs. Max Fried
Wednesday: George Kirby vs. Cam Schlittler
Notes: Ryan Weathers was one of the bigger acquisitions for the Yankees this off-season, and features some of the best pure velocity the Mariners might see all season. The stuff is there to be great, but he has yet to fully put it together over a full season.
This is not the best matchup for the Mariners in general, given Aaron Judge’s history of rampaging, as well as the back to back lefty starter to open the series, but it’s a good test to see how the Mariners stack up early against two starters (Fried and Schlittler) they would likely see in a potential postseason matchup.
April 3rd - April 5th - at Angels
Friday: Woo vs. Detmers
Saturday: Hancock vs. Kochanowicz
Sunday: Castillo vs. Johnson
Notes: It’s the Angels. This series is going to suck, Mike Trout is going to be a pain in the ass, and some how Jo Adell will hit multiple dingers. Just get the hell out of there healthy, and hopefully with a series win.
What’s Ahead - Wednesday’s Show
Ty Dane Gonzalez of Locked On Mariners and Control the Zone will swing by to talk about what he’s seen from the Mariners in the early parts of the season.
Go M’s.