Cal Raleigh shares the impact made by M’s hitting coaches

The lineup slowed down during the recent home stand, but the Seattle Mariners’ bats have showed some major improvements for much of this season.

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Even after two of their roughest series of the season offensively, the M’s still ranked 11th in MLB in runs scored, 12th in slugging percentage, tied for eighth in home runs, first in walk rate and seventh in wRC+ entering Thursday. Outside of the home run ranking, those are all big jumps from the same point a season ago.

The personnel hasn’t changed a whole lot for the Mariners since this point last season. The most notable addition whose made an impact this year is Randy Arozarena, who was acquired before the trade deadline last July. But the core of Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh and J.P Crawford at the top of the lineup is still intact.

During the latest edition of The Cal Raleigh Show on Seattle Sports, Raleigh discussed the M’s offense and the impact the coaching staff has had on the lineup with Mariners insider Shannon Drayer.

“I just think we’re just trying to really lean into that identity of committing to a plan, being a certain type of team,” Raleigh said. “And overall in the grand scheme of things, so far it’s been really good. We just got to keep hammering it home. … It’s not about reinventing the wheel. It’s not about trying to do more, trying to do something different. It’s just continuing to lean on what we’ve talked about and the identity of who we are, and just trying to always consistently be that.”

Raleigh debuted with the Mariners in 2021 and has been a key figure for the club over the past few seasons. He’s experienced the highs of the 2022 playoff run, which included his legendary home run that ended the 21-year drought, and the lows of seeing the offense struggle to support a stellar starting rotation that’s been one of baseball’s best.

He said the new-found offensive success has helped build the confidence of this year’s group.

“Our pitching has been so good in the past and obviously the the issues always been more on the offensive side,” Raleigh said. “So when you see us scoring runs, you see us doing little things like that, it’s a big boost, especially for our staff and definitely for the confidence of this team to know we are capable to put up runs, to do little things the right way and kind of become that kind of team that we want to be.”

One factor in the Mariners’ improved offense is the new hitting staff led by director of hitting strategy Edgar Martinez, hitting coach Kevin Seitzer and assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes. Raleigh spoke on about the impact that groups has had.

“I think a great thing is they’re not constantly trying to tinker. They’re not constantly trying to find things wrong with you. … They’re not constantly changing the approach, changing what you do every single day,” Raleigh said. “Obviously if you’re struggling, like you can talk and maybe find a drill or two. But it’s not every day. It’s not come in (and) find it. It’s like consistently doing your prep, consistently working on your approach and just hammering it home every single day.”

“Sometimes the best coaching is not coaching, not trying to do too much and not trying to overdo it,” Raleigh added. “And I think they’ve done a great job of just really hammering that stuff home and being consistent and really just keeping it simple. And at the end of the day, it is a simple game.”

Martinez, a Hall of Famer who took over as the hitting coach for the final 34 games of last season, has a major impact with the way he instills confidence in his players.

“I don’t know how to describe it, (but) when talking to him you feel this kind of like ease (that) comes over you,” Raleigh said. “You have this belief in yourself because he believes. I think he believes in a lot of us more than we believe ourselves sometimes.”

Hear the full conversation in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to The Cal Raleigh Show on Thursdays at 5 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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