The Seattle Mariners got off to an incredibly slow start, largely because some of their best players struggled early in the season. Cal Raleigh, for example, still has just a .161 batting average because he slumped to begin the season. This comes a year after the catcher smashed 60 home runs, the third most ever in the American League and the most in a single season by a backstop.
The team’s pitching, headlined by an incredible six-man group of starters, has been great all year, though, and the batters are starting to find their footing. The Mariners are 35-31 and in first place in the AL West, despite not coming close to hitting their ceiling yet. The emergence of Luke Raley has played a big part in Seattle’s surprising success.
Coming into the season, Raley had hovered around the Mendoza Line in three of his five big league campaigns. He also only surpassed the 20 home run threshold once. This year, though, Raley already has 13 home runs, and he is hitting .253. Raley thinks that the Mariners’ offense finding its rhythm was an inevitability.
“I mean, I think we have kind of just stuck to our plan,” Raley said. “That’s just how baseball goes sometimes. I don’t think too much has changed, stuff is just starting to fall, and [we need] to just keep having good at-bats and doing what we’re planning to do out there.”
The offensive potential of this Seattle team is quite impressive. On top of what fans have seen from Raleigh in the past and from Raley this year, there are other superstars on the roster, such as Randy Arozarena, J.P. Crawford, Josh Naylor, and Julio Rodriguez. Colt Emerson is also making the transition from prospect to star. All of these players can knock homers over the outfield wall, which is perhaps where Seattle can most thrive going forward.
“As a team, I feel like we hit a lot of homers,” Raley said. “That is kind of how we drive in runs. You get people on and in front, and you take that big swing, [it can be] deflating for the other team.”
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