Examining what Teoscar Hernández said about hitting in T-Mobile Park

A frustrating year for the Seattle Mariners’ offense has been amplified by the success of a couple of departed outfielders.

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One of those is Teoscar Hernández. He left Seattle following an up-and-down season, and after signing in the offseason with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the 31-year-old corner outfielder is having a resurgent campaign for the National League West leaders. Then on Monday, he won the Home Run Derby.

Hernández took a big step back with the Mariners last season, slashing .258/.305/.435 and posting a 105 wRC+ that was his lowest since 2019. He’s back to his usual self with the Dodgers, hitting .261/.327/.475 with a 126 wRC+ that’s much more in line with the three straight seasons with a 130 or higher wRC+ that he posted in his final three years in Toronto.

What exactly happened to Hernández? The Seattle Times’ Adam Jude spoke with Dominican slugger before the Derby on Monday, and Hernández explained that he never felt comfortable hitting at T-Mobile Park.

“For some reason I couldn’t figure it out,” Hernández said. “I couldn’t feel good at the plate at home.”

What Hernández had to say piqued the interest of Michael Bumpus and Stacy Rost on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy. Here’s a bit of their conversation about it from Tuesday’s show.

Digging into Teoscar Hernández’s comments

Stacy Rost: “He continued kind of talking about what that felt like, whether it was the batter’s eye, whatever it was. He said, ‘I’ve talked to a lot of players around the league, and they feel the same thing when they go to Seattle and play two or three games over there. They had the same feeling, so it was not only me.’ … The one thing he did mention is the pitcher’s mound, he said it’s a little crooked, like the box to the pitcher’s mound. ‘I didn’t really feel straight with the pitcher for some reason. I moved everywhere in the batter’s box and tried to fix it, but I couldn’t figure it out.’ What was sitting with you after reading through all of this?”

Michael Bumpus: “The first thing I thought about was when I’m on a tee box (while golfing) and it just feels awkward. There’s this tee box, Hole (3) at Echo Falls … the way they angle the box, it just doesn’t feel right. Maybe one out of four drives I hit well on that on that tee box, so I automatically started thinking about that. So then what I did, I went and I looked at the batter’s eye at T-Mobile. Then I compared it to one of the easiest parks to hit at, (Great) American Park where the Reds play. … I looked at that batter’s eye and I kid you not, Stacy, I’m looking at T-Mobile and it just feels off. Like the way the stands are, the screen is off center to the right. You got the grandstands over to the right side. And then I went to Great American (Park) …and it just felt better. It’s like symmetrical. The screens are in the middle, stands are to the side, and I’m saying, ‘OK, I’m kind of feeling what he’s saying right now.’”

Stacy: “Here’s my question: If Teo says that other players that he’s spoken with have come here and said that about their brief stints or a brief series in Seattle, would not other Mariners players have thought so? I have a hard time thinking that Teo, if he’s right about other players from other teams saying this, is the only Mariner to ever think, ‘Oh man, this is like a weird situation. This is a weird setup.’”

Bump: “Yeah, it has to be (common), and the tough part about that is I wonder when he was here, did you have those conversations? Because it’s kind of like you don’t want to acknowledge some things because you don’t want to make it real. It’s like when you’re a kid and you’re walking through the house and it’s dark and you feel like there’s something looking at you, and you’re not going to acknowledge it because you don’t want to make it real, right? That’s kind of way I think the players have to approach it at T-Mobile. They hear all the noise, but as soon as you acknowledge it, it becomes real. So that would be my question is: How many conversations have you had with current Mariners about this batter’s eye situation?”

Stacy: “Teo isn’t the only one to talk about this. (Former MLB pitcher) Trevor May was on with us in April and also said he’s heard (from) a lot of guys that the T-Mobile batters eye is really hard to hit. … OK, hear me out, Bump. I’m just putting this out there as a theory. This is not insight I have, this is nothing I’ve been told, this is just a random theory. What if the Mariners organization has heard from players, multiple players over the course of many, many years, that the batter’s eye is a little tricky … that maybe they come back from another park and they say, ‘Yeah, can we do something like that? That just felt easier for us.’ But their thought is ‘Well, if it’s hard for you or tricky for you, then it’s tricky for (visiting teams).’”

Bump: “That makes sense. Sure. That’s strategy. Maybe that has helped the rotation. We do have one of the best in the game with Logan (Gilbert) and the crew, and that would make complete sense. Let’s just make it hard for everybody. But goodness gracious, at some point you have to be able to look at your squad and be like, ‘We got to produce runs.’ And it’s not like they’re just having these issues at home either. It’s the same thing on the road. So I mean, we could point out whatever we want to. The problem with this team right now is they can’t put up runs wherever they’re at – in Seattle, in Anaheim, in Colorado, it don’t matter. They’re just not putting up the runs.”

Find the full conversation on the podcast page at 3 p.m.

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