How Víctor Robles has become a revelation for Mariners

Jul 28, 2024, 7:16 PM

Seattle Mariners Victor Robles Los Angeles Angels 2024...

Víctor Robles of the Seattle Mariners is congratulated in the dugout on July 14. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)

Mariners Insider, Seattle Sports

Unlike most press boxes in baseball that are behind home plate, at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, the media sits far down the right-field line. It is a different view that most of the time is not appreciated, but Saturday it provided an interesting glimpse of an at-bat that otherwise might be hard to see. Facing White Sox starter Erick Fedde with two strikes on him and runners on first and third, Seattle Mariners outfielder Víctor Robles did something that is not very often seen from a hitter.

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As Fedde turned to check the runner at second, Robles quickly stepped up to the very front of the batter’s box. Fedde delivered the pitch, a sweeper off the plate that Robles was able to catch out front and drive to left field for an RBI single.

“It’s pretty uncommon, I would say, generally,” Mariners hitting coach Jarret DeHart said with a smile. “He’s done it against some guys with slow changeups. When he feels like he can’t wait long enough and he wants to give himself a better chance, he’ll do it. And he’s not afraid to get beat by a fastball. He’s got quick enough hands to where, ‘You’re not gonna beat me with a heater,’ so he scoots up. But yeah, very uncommon. It’s pretty tough. I mean, most guys don’t have the (guts) to do it.”

For his part, Robles said it is something that is always in his mind when facing a guy with offspeed stuff that is slow. He can’t pinpoint exactly when he started moving up in the box, but admitted that a former Washington Nationals teammate who did it inspired him to try.

“Soto,” he said.

And the key to pulling it off?

“Confidence,” he said. “It’s about having confidence in my hands that I can move up and still be quick enough to get to the fastball if I need to.”

It’s just one tool in a what is clearly becoming an industrial-sized toolbox that Robles has brought with him to Seattle after being designated for assignment by the Nationals. He has been a discovery for the team that has been much appreciated.

“Víctor Robles, wow,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said after the game. “The competitiveness of the at-bats and talk about making adjustments throughout the course of an at-bat. He’s really good at it. What he’s done for our club, not just on the field, but how he plays and the energy plays with – he’s having a lot of fun right now, which you can see, and it’s rubbing off on some other guys too.”

Cal Raleigh sees Robles being a big part of the Mariners starting to pull out of the offensive funk they have been in for the better part of the season.

“I think the biggest thing so far is just Víctor Robles at the top of the order getting on base, setting the tone. Just the way he’s having at-bats, even when he doesn’t get a hit, it’s encouraging,” Raleigh said Saturday night. “He’s stealing bases. He’s putting pressure on the defense. He’s the kind of jolt, energy we need.”

While Servais and DeHart credit Robles with coming to the Mariners with eyes and ears open, willing to work and learn, Robles turns it back on the coaches and the time they have taken to help him.

“JD (DeHart) got close to him,” said Mariners third base coach Manny Acta, interpreting for Robles in a group interview. “He told him he was there to help. Approached him with tips that worked right away.”

DeHart made a mechanical change with Robles, asking him to get more into his legs, as he believed Robles was using his hips too much in his swing. Robles took a couple of the suggestions, or “tips” as he calls them, and feels they have made a difference. His production since July 7 when he began to receive near everyday at-bats falls into the “too good to be true,” small-sample category, as he is hitting over .400 with a 1.098 OPS and a .484 BABIP.

On the other hand, his batted ball numbers this year are intriguing. Through Saturday, Robles had recorded 69 batted ball events and has seen significant increases over career averages in exit velocity (89.2 mph this vs. 84.3 mph for his career), barrel percentage (13 vs. 3.9), hard-hit percentage (36.2 vs. 25.2) and nine barrels – the most he has recorded since 2019, and tied with his total in 277 events in 2022.

Is this indicative of perhaps a long-awaited breakout for Robles, who once was a top prospect in baseball? It is something to watch for, but in the meantime, there is no denying the impact he has had on the Mariners and vice versa.

“He’s enjoying more of the game,” Acta said, interpreting for Robles. “He’s really enjoying getting fueled by his teammates, the good coaching staff. I think that’s been the difference. Not thinking too much and enjoying the game.”

When he arrived with the Mariners, who signed him after the DFA, there was no sense of bitterness or disappointment about him. Robles bounded out of the dugout the first day shouting “Hello, media,” before sitting with the group for his first interview. A few weeks later in a “get-to-know” interview for the radio pregame show, his personality was on full display.

“I’m just a kid, a big dreamer of a kid from a small town in the D.R.,” he said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. “I’m just living the dream. I’m a guy who always has a smile on my face.”

Robles stressed that he has always been passionate about the game of baseball, and while he wasn’t yet seeing much playing time, he was finding other ways to help the team.

“I’m a guy that’s just going to go out there and work,” he said. “When I go out there, I feel I am invincible. I’m a guy that’s just going to go and do everything I can to add my little grain of salt to the team to help us win.”

When told that had been noticed, he beamed and in English said, “Thank you, thank you. Thank you for noticing.”

At the time, one couldn’t help but wonder if he warranted perhaps a closer look. As a young player, his prospect status was so high. He wasn’t getting that look, but there was no frustration on display.

“Every day is a new opportunity,” he said at the time. “My family’s healthy, I’ve got a job. So why be down? God gives us this opportunity, so it would be wrong of me to go walking around moping. That’s how I see it.”

When he finally got his opportunity, Robles bucked the perception the Mariners had of him coming in.

“I thought it would be more of a like a platoon partner,” Servais said when asked what he thought he was getting when Robles was signed. “He would play against left-handed pitching, because I think that’s what he’s basically done the last few years of his career when he got here. He was very open to some suggestions and he quickly got it. He just clicked.”

At his best, DeHart sees Robles as a complete hitter with perhaps some extra.

“He makes some really good swing decisions,” DeHart said. “He has good bat to ball. He’s got a ton of bat speed, which is the thing that I think we were most impressed by when he got here. On paper it doesn’t look like he has, but you look at his top-end bat speeds, they’re really good, but he just wasn’t getting there frequently. He’s showed flashes of big bat speed. He has power in the tank, but I think the best version of him is a guy who’s going to make really good swing decisions. He’s going to control the zone really well. He’s going to put the ball in play and he’s going to hit the ball hard. He’s going to hit a ton of line drives and run into a couple of homers here and there. I think he’s just a very good hitter all around.”

Robles has been invaluable to the team, stepping in for J.P. Crawford in the leadoff spot and covering center field with Julio Rodríguez on the injured list. He was not a trade deadline acquisition, but could prove as valuable as any move made in the next two days.