Mariners season review: expectations beaten, milestones reached, and new hope for 2022
Scott Servais remembers a May 23 team meeting in San Diego after Seattle’s sixth consecutive loss. The Mariners were 21-26, and lost four relievers to the injured list earlier that weekend when a positive COVID-19 test and required contact tracing decimated the bullpen.
They had to look at each other, and look in the mirror, Servais told reporters after Sunday’s game. They had to pull together as a group, and they did, he said.
“How was our season looking? Not real good,” Servais said. “(But) the tightness, the brotherhood, the bond, whatever you want to call it… it stays with you. It doesn’t leave. It’s not going to go away.
“So that’s exciting for me, as we go forward with this young group.”
When the Mariners left behind San Diego and a second consecutive sweep, they flew to Oakland, and grabbed two of three games from the Athletics. Then, they swept Texas in a four-game home series.
Seattle finished 90-72 in a season when ESPN expected 70 wins and Sports Illustrated projected 69. They blew past those expectations by grabbing their 70th win in late August, mainly without the help of last season’s AL Rookie of the Year, Kyle Lewis, who played in just 36 games. James Paxton, one of Seattle’s key offseason additions last winter, pitched just 1 ⅓ innings before motioning for trainers to aid him on the mound in the second game of the season.
Aside from the potential departure of veteran Kyle Seager — the team must decide whether to exercise a one-year, $20 million option on the longest-tenured Mariner — all of Seattle’s lineup remains intact for 2022. Their batters are the fifth-youngest in the majors, and many of them received their first taste of playoff-contending baseball over the weekend.
“They will take this experience, and it’ll benefit them for many years to come,” Servais said. “And it’ll also help in the offseason. When you’re, ‘so I get up and work out today? I really want to do this extra exercise today, or go lift weights at 7:30 in the morning?’
“When you think back on where we were at Game 162, it’s worth it, and it does make a difference. Because that’s when you really make improvements in this game, is in the offseason. Your body gets completely healthy, you can make some adjustments. … We’ll stay on our guys, stay in touch with them all offseason.”
Perhaps the most touted prospect to join the Mariners in 2021 was Jarred Kelenic, Seattle’s top prospect at the time and considered a top-5 farm player in baseball before his call-up.
Then 21 years old, Kelenic endured an 0-for-42 stretch in the opening months of his career. He made his debut on May 13, and was sent back to Triple-A Tacoma after a June 6 game in Los Angeles. He worked through a swing adjustment, mainly in an attempt to stand more upright at the plate. Upon his return to the majors on July 16, he was able to make better swings at pitches higher in the zone, he told reporters.
Kelenic’s best month of the 2021 season was his last, hitting .248 with seven homers from September 1 on.
“I’m going to be rethinking everything that I learned this year,” Kelenic said Sunday. “And then, when it’s time to go to work in a weight room, and it’s time to go to work and engage, I’m gonna apply everything that I find value in to help make me better.
“And I know that next season. I’m gonna be way better than I was this year. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m gonna outwork anybody’s expectations.”
As Seattle gears up for 2022, more players are returning from injury than there are players hitting free agency. Here’s a look at some of Seattle’s returnees:
AWARD-WINNING ROOKIES, BULLPEN PIECES RETURN IN 2022
Remember Kyle Lewis? Last season’s AL Rookie of the Year?
One of Seattle’s future cornerstones returns to the lineup next season, and there’s no concern about his availability as early as Spring Training. Lewis tore his meniscus in May, and never returned during the 2021 campaign.
“We were expecting to get him back at some point, originally maybe mid-August,” Servais said. “Then, we were hoping (for) September 1. And it never materialized. It didn’t come together.”
Lewis hit .262 and drove in 28 runs in 56 games of last season’s pandemic-shortened 2020. He played only 36 games in 2021, as a bruise in his right knee held him out of the first 17 games of the season.
The 26-year-old tore his meniscus in Oakland on May 25.
“If you go back to how we originally put this team together, we all anticipated (that) Kyle Lewis was going to be a big part of it,” Servais said.
“And that’s a pretty big right-handed bat.”
Lewis didn’t return in 2021, but fans received a taste of triple-digit-throwing reliever Andres Munoz’s arm during Sunday’s season finale, where the 22-year-old topped out at 100 mph in a ⅔-inning appearance. He walked two hitters in the sixth inning before Servais replaced him with Sean Doolittle.
That’s Munoz’s biggest challenge: command. Packaged with Ty France, Luis Torrens, and others in a 2020 deal with the Padres, Munoz has no problem clocking triple digits on his fastball, but can get wild.
There’s best-in-the-bullpen potential for Munoz, said Servais. “Electric, 100-mph type stuff,” he told reporters last month.
Entering Seattle’s 2022 bullpen alongside him is Ken Giles, who will start the second year on his two-year deal with the Mariners. Toronto’s closer since 2018, Giles underwent Tommy John surgery in 2020. Seattle signed him for two years, knowing his recovery would wipe out the first season on his deal.
In 2019, Giles appeared in 53 games for the Blue Jays, striking out 83 batters en route to a 1.87 earned-run average. He was only one of eight relievers in baseball to notch an ERA below two. Giles appeared in only four games in 2020, allowing four runs in 3 2/3 innings pitched.
At first base, Evan White went down with a hip flexor injury on May 14, and never returned to the field. He elected for hip surgery in mid-July, and was considered out for the remainder of the season at the time.
2020’s AL Gold Glove winner at first base, White’s contract runs through 2025, with a trio of club options that could keep him in Seattle through 2028. Ty France took over at first base after White’s injury, and it’s unclear where the infielders will play come 2022. Free agent additions are another possibility.
If White’s injury keeps him out for spring training, France could remain at the position. He made just one error in 915 innings at first base in 2021.
HANIGER’S HUNDRED
Mitch Haniger picked up his glove, threw on his hat, and jogged out to right field to a shower of applause.
In a game that promised a bump up in the wild card standings with a win, the 30-year-old Haniger launched a seventh-inning home run that padded Seattle’s lead and proved to be enough insurance.
It was home run number 38 on the year for Haniger. His previous career-best? The right fielder smashed 26 homers in 2018, before a ruptured testicle ended his 2019 season and back injuries spoiled any hope of a 2020 campaign.
But Tuesday’s home run also represented the 100th home run of Haniger’s career. He avoided the postgame beer shower in the clubhouse, he said.
“They tried to beer shower me, and we got (Casey) Sadler,” Haniger said, laughing. “I did that when I’m a rookie, so I’m good.
“I got a little emotional. It takes me back, missing so much time. Being able to come back and do it, it’s a good feeling. (I’m) really thankful for all the people that helped out along the way, and I guess (it’s) a testament to believing in myself and knowing I could do it.”
And earlier in that game, Oakland’s Mark Canha roped a single into the right field corner at T-Mobile Park, and tried to stretch it into extra bases. Haniger scooped, turned, and fired the ball to J.P. Crawford, who extended to nab Canha at second.
“Experience, with playing here and then just being able to read angles off walls... whether it’s the sidewall in foul territory, the outfield wall, knowing how balls will bounce off and in your home park you should be really familiar with,” Haniger said. “It can change games and really save our pitchers. I expect to make those spin throws down the line and be accurate.
“And it’s been really nice to throw to J.P., because even when they’re a little offline, he can make them look good.”
Haniger finished the season with 39 home runs after poking a ball into the Seattle bullpen on Saturday. He scored 110 runs, which ranked first among all American League outfielders, and drove in an even 100.
UP NEXT
The offseason. With only $54 million on the books for 2022, Mariners CEO John Stanton has told reporters he plans to give general manager Jerry Dipoto the necessary resources to “be aggressive” in free agency this winter.
On February 26, 2022, Seattle opens their spring training slate against the Padres at the Peoria Sports Complex. They complete their preseason schedule on March 28 against San Diego at the same venue.
On Thursday, March 31, 2022, Seattle opens the regular season at T-Mobile Park against the Detroit Tigers.
“We’ll get (our offseason plans) out to them here in the next week or so and start building towards next year,” Servais said. “Because our future is very, very bright.”
This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 11:21 AM with the headline "Mariners season review: expectations beaten, milestones reached, and new hope for 2022."