Mariners notebook: Seattle to be more aggressive on the bases in 2020

Mar 5, 2020, 10:22 AM

The Mariners and speedy OF Mallex Smith will be more aggressive on the bases this year. (Getty)

(Getty)

Mariners Insider, Seattle Sports

Will we be watching the go-go Mariners this summer at T-Mobile Park? They certainly have been going this spring in Arizona as they continue to lead all of baseball in stolen bases with 16 so far.

Gallant’s Mariners spring training takeaways: Jarred Kelenic looks ready

As always, baserunning receives a good amount of attention in the spring with players being told to test their boundaries and push the envelope to find out just what they can do when the games don’t count. Some years that is taken into the season, some years it is left in Arizona. With the number of young legs on the Mariners in 2020, however, more will be expected on the bases. This team should look different when it comes to the running game.

“Some games if we are down a couple of runs we just shouldn’t automatically stop running,” said Scott Servais Thursday morning. “That’s a way for us to create opportunities to score runs. The unwritten rule you don’t run into outs when you are down, well you have to take a couple of chances to create more opportunities.”

Believe it or not, the Mariners’ baserunning in 2019 was much improved over the previous year where they finished 14th in stolen bases with 79 and 23rd in BSR (base running runs above average), which includes extra bases, outs on bases and avoiding double plays with a score of -7.0. Last year, the team finished with the fifth-most stolen bases (115) and the fourth-best BSR (13.4).

It was a dramatic turnaround, but the bulk of the numbers came from two players, Mallex Smith and Dee Gordon, who accounted for 68 of the stolen bases and just one other player, Dylan Moore, who finished in the double digits with 11. The Mariners are working toward upping those numbers and Servais likes what he sees so far particularly with a couple of guys who aren’t burners, but can do more with what they have and perhaps grab 15 or so steals.

“J.P. Crawford, his lead at first base might be three-feet farther than it was last year. That’s a big deal,” he said. “We are finding more out about Kyle Lewis. He can get big. He’s long, he’s 6’3-6’4. Get out there a bit. It’s not that he’s going to steal a ton of bases but it helps going first to third. It helps scoring on a double. It just puts you in a better spot.”

A team that is active on the bases is a team that more often than not is fun to watch. How dramatic could this change be in terms of look or offensive personality? Maybe not too different at the start.

“You have got to get on base first,” said Servais candidly. “We will have a different look, we’ve spent a ton of time talking about in meetings. It’s a big priority for me that we prep more this year on offensive situations. We are going to take more chances. We are going to push the envelope.”

Once on base, base running is one of the more controllables of the game. If they are smart and able to execute, with so many young players on the team base running could become a big part of their foundation.

“I do want teams when they come in to play us, they go over their reports and say ‘hey, these guys run like crazy. They are young guys. You have to stay on your toes.’ That’s a good thing. And that will be the report on us.”

Lineup!

Shed Long Jr., 2B
Mallex Smith, CF
Kyle Seager, 3B
Austin Nola, DH
Carlos Gonzalez, RF
Jose Marmolejos, 1B
Tom Murphy, C
Dee Gordon, SS
Sam Haggerty, LF

Yusei Kikuchi, LHP

Also scheduled to pitch: Carl Edwards Jr., Gerson Bautista, Yohan Ramirez, Ljay Newsome, Sam Delaplane.

Mariners notes

• Daniel Vogelbach has the day off today but has garnered favorable reviews for his early spring work. Offseason mechanical adjustments appear to be benefiting him but it is his approach, being more aggressive when he is ahead in the count, something that he got away from when his struggles compounded in 2019.

“It looks great,” said Servais. “It’s spring training, we will see how it plays out in the season. Everybody is going to struggle. He knows what it is like to go through it, he’s just got to handle it a little better.”

Servais has mentioned a few times that Vogelbach, despite the poor second half last year, will hit in the middle of the order to start the season. Whether or not he will face very many lefties however, remains to be seen.

“That’s a wait and see,” said Servais. “I’m not afraid to start one of our catchers as a DH on some of these days to keep those guys going because both of those are right-handed bats that hit lefties well.”

• Speaking of those catchers, while Tom Murphy has been pointed to as the No. 1, Servais revealed it will be closer to an even split for time behind the plate for he and Nola.

“They both are going to play a very similar amount,” he said. “I don’t think you put too much of a load on either one of them and I think you look up at the end of the day and hopefully have very good production (again) out of that position.”

• Upcoming probables:

Fri. @ Dodgers: Marco Gonzales
Sat. vs A’s: Kendall Graveman
Sun. @ Giants: Justus Sheffield
Mon. vs Brewers: Taijuan Walker

Justin Dunn will most likely follow Walker.

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