Mariners take the lead in American League West

Being outscored by your opponents for the season, starting pitching’s lack of quality starts, and too much reliance on the bullpen were the reasons I was prepared to list why the Mariners' quick start can’t last. Then the series with the Houston Astros happened and it has changed the way I look at this team. I’m still not prepared to say they can win their division but after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers last night 4-3 the Mariners have gone 6-2 in their last eight games and are now in first place in the American League West.

Before this past week, the pitching staff was giving up almost six runs per game. In the last eight games, they have only given up twenty-four runs good for exactly three runs per game. Looking deeper into their pitching statistics the Mariners' pitching staff is allowing a batting average on balls in play of .261 which is seventh-best in the league. Their starting pitching has been pitching deeper into games and their bullpen has been excellent so far this season which is a big surprise.

On offensive, the news is good as well. Ty France and Mitch Haniger continue to lead the team in hitting and both had a big series against the Astros this past week. Others on the team have managed to come up big in important situations. J.P. Crawford had a two-RBI game against the Orioles last week and Taylor Trammell’s home run are examples.

Reinforcements will be arriving soon. Last year's Rookie of the Year, Kyle Lewis, who was recovering from a knee injury has been playing at the alternate site and should be back with the team by the time you read this. Also, now that the series with Baltimore is over the Mariners can call up top prospect Jarred Kelenic without losing a year of his service time. They may let him play a few games with the AAA Rainers team whose season starts May 6th but expect him to get called up in the near future. When he does the team will have a decision to make on who stays on as a fourth outfielder and who gets demoted to the alternate site or goes back down to the minors. My guess is it will be either Taylor Trammell or Jake Fraley. Fraley has only played in twenty-four games in his three seasons in the majors. Fraley has yet to hit a home run and so far, his calling card this year has been that he has drawn eight walks in nineteen plate appearances. This is Taylor Trammell’s first season in the majors and he already has three home runs in his first fifteen games but Trammell is striking out 40.4% of the time. That’s not sustainable even with the home run potential. So, unless his strikeout rate drops before Kelenic gets added to the team Trammell is probably the odd man out.