Series Preview: Mariners (17-15) at Rangers (16-17)

As much as getting no-hit in the final game of their homestand hurts, most of that disappointment was washed away with some truly exciting performances down in the minor leagues on Thursday’s off-day. Jarred Kelenic blasted two home runs in Tacoma’s home opener, Julio Rodriguez had two hits and two walks and Emerson Hancock made his pro debut for Everett. Logan Gilbert and George Kirby are scheduled to start on Friday in Tacoma and Everett, respectively, so if you’re tired of watching the big league club flail away at the plate, there’s plenty of exciting baseball happening around the Sound.

After a disappointing end to their homestand, the Mariners head off on a short, five-game road trip beginning in Texas. In a weird quirk of the schedule, this will be the first time they’re facing the Rangers this season — and they still haven’t faced Oakland yet.

In many ways, this Rangers team has turned a corner from their aimless floundering. Many of the roster mainstays are gone — Elvis Andrus, Rougned Odor, Nomar, Mazara, and Shin-Soo Choo are all playing elsewhere this year — and it seems like they’ve committed to finding out which of their youngsters could be long-term contributors. They don’t have the deep stable of young talent on their farm system like the Mariners do, but it finally seems like they’re working towards a goal of competing in the near future instead of just existing at the bottom of the AL West standings like they had been for the previous four years.

Joey Gallo is the lone remaining holdover in this lineup and he’s having a pretty odd season this year. His massive power output has almost completely dried up, his hard hit rate is at a career low and he’s pulling the ball less often than ever before. He’s managed to put together a positive batting line because of some extraordinary batted ball luck. The rest of their lineup has been rather good so far this year. Willie Calhoun is finally healthy again and is crushing the ball, Nick Solak has bounced back after a disappointing sophomore season, and newcomer Nate Lowe looks like a long-term solution for the Rangers first base woes.

Probable Pitchers

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Back in 2018, Mike Foltynewicz’s fastball reached a peak velocity of 96.3 mph leading to a breakout season with a 2.85 ERA backed by a 3.37 FIP. But the next year, he struggled to follow up on his success and 2020 was an even greater disaster. After just one start last year where his fastball velocity was just 90.9 mph, he was designated for assignment and released by the Braves. He signed with the Rangers in the offseason in the hopes that his fastball velocity could return to its former glory. So far, it’s mostly returned, hitting 94 mph regularly. But that’s still well below what he was throwing in Atlanta during his peak seasons. His biggest issue is the long ball, as batters have crushed his fastball now that its elite velocity is gone.

After a six-year career in Japan playing for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Kohei Arihara came over to the major leagues this past offseason, signing a two-year deal with the Rangers. He doesn’t possess the impressive raw stuff of his countrymen Yu Darvish, Kenta Maeda, or Yusei Kikuchi. Instead, he relies on an incredibly deep arsenal featuring seven different pitches. Only a few of his pitches grade out well on their physical characteristics alone, but the sheer number of different looks and speeds he can present during an at-bat definitely keeps batters off balance.

Dane Dunning was the headlining prospect in the Lance Lynn trade with the White Sox this offseason. He had made his major league debut with Chicago in 2020, putting together seven impressive starts on the Southside. He relies on a low-90s sinker to get plenty of contact on the ground and a good slider and changeup to get whiffs late in the count. With Texas, he’s ditched a four-seam fastball that had produced a good whiff rate but had been crushed by batters when they managed to make contact with it. Instead, his sinker usage is up over 50% and he’s added a cutter to his repertoire to give him another pitch to use against left-handed batters.

The Big Picture:

The Angels made the surprising choice to cut ties with Albert Pujols yesterday in the hopes they could get their season back on track. After unceremoniously designating him for assignment in the morning, they lost in brutal fashion to the Rays yesterday evening. That completed a four-game sweep and was the fifth consecutive loss for the Angels. It doesn’t get any easier for them as they host the Dodgers this weekend. The A’s split their four game series against the Blue Jays and host the red hot Rays this weekend. The Blue Jays head to Houston to face the reeling Astros who managed to beat Gerrit Cole on Wednesday to salvage a win out of their three-game series against the Yankees.