Scott Servais thinks Mariners may need to pump brakes on steals
May 31, 2016, 3:55 PM | Updated: Jun 1, 2016, 3:36 pm
Whoa.
That’s the natural reaction when you see that stolen bases are pretty much a 50-50 proposition for the Seattle Mariners this season.
Whoa is what the manager may be thinking, too, as manager Scott Servais indicated that his team has to recognize the results.
“We’ve tried to give it a shot,” Servais said. “But at some point when the game tells you one thing you have to pay attention to it and look at it. You can’t just keep pushing it or trying to shove it down their throat.”
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Servais said that on “Brock and Salk” where he was interviewed on Tuesday morning from Safeco Field. He was addressing a pretty simple reality. The Mariners had stolen 16 bases in 31 attempts entering Tuesday’s game against San Diego. Only the Colorado Rockies had a lower stolen-base percentage of all the teams in baseball.
Not only that, but Leonys Martin is responsible for half of the stolen bases Seattle does have and he’s on the disabled list with a hamstring injury and won’t be eligible to return until June 10. Throw in the fact that Ketel Marte, who has five stolen bases, is also on the disabled list and the Mariners don’t have much in the way of options.
“Those are our big speed guys,” Servais said. “We’re going to have to do things a little bit differently.”
And that doesn’t mean asking outfielder Nori Aoki to pick up the slack given that Aoki has been caught stealing on seven of his nine attempts this season.
“Aoki has attempted a number of times for whatever reason,” Servais said. “He has gotten thrown out. He does a great job getting on base. He certainly can score from first on a double … That’s just the way we have to play.”
In other words: Whoa.
