GM Hollander: How Mariners want to improve offense this season

The 2024 season was a frustrating one offensively for the Seattle Mariners.

While the starting pitching staff consistently proved to be one of the best – if not the best – in the majors, the Mariners’ offense spent much of the season struggling.

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Through Aug. 22, they were last in the majors in batting (.216) and strikeout rate (27.7%), 28th in OPS (.666) and 27th in runs per game (3.93). They turned things around over the final six weeks of the season, but it was too little, too late as the Houston Astros claimed yet another American League West crown and the Mariners missed a wild card berth by one game.

The offensive struggles were frustrating for the team and its fans, something that general manager Justin Hollander identified Wednesday during a conversation with Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.

“We played terrible offense for the first four months of last year as a group,” Hollander said. “There were individual players who were better in stretches and worse in stretches. But as a group, we were just an unacceptably bad offense for the first four months of the season.

“If it starts with somebody’s fault, it’s probably mine and our front office. We just did not play good enough and put enough pressure on teams.”

Seattle held a 10-game lead in the division on June 18, but that lead evaporated in an MLB-record 24 days.  The Mariners were 44-31 when they had their double-digit lead. However, that record came despite the lackluster showing from the offense. At the time, they were hitting just .222 (28th in MLB).

“Even when we were 10 games up, we were doing it in ways that was more smoke and mirrors than was going to lead to long-term success,” Hollander said.

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Once the M’s did get things turned around offensively after Dan Wilson took over as manager and Edgar Martinez as interim hitting coach on Aug. 23, they were among the league’s best offenses. Seattle was fourth in runs (5.09), fifth in OPS (.764), eighth in batting (.255) and 18th in strikeout rate (23.7%) from that point on.

Hollander shared what Wilson and Martinez (who is now overseeing the Mariners’ hitting program) have been focused on this offseason to try and replicate what they did late in 2024 and have a better offense this year.

“In my conversations and (president of baseball operations) Jerry (Dipoto)’s conversations with Dan and Edgar, the night-to-night consistency is something that they’re really focused on,” Hollander said. “Sometimes that will come as a result of the little things like moving runners, putting a ball in play, stealing a base. Sometimes that’ll be hitting more three-run homers, but we definitely need to put more pressure on teams.

“Offensively, we feel like we have a team that is capable of doing it,” he added. “I don’t know if we’re going to lead the free world in offense like we did over the last six weeks of the season. I’m pretty certain we’ll be better than we were for the first four months of the season when we were just bad.”

Listen to the full conversation with Mariners general manager Justin Hollander at this link or in the audio player in this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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• Three under-the-radar Seattle Mariners prospects to watch this spring
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