May 1, 2025 • 19 mins
Bret Boone, former Mariners All Star, joins Dave Softy Mahler and Hugh Millen to talk about the M’s winning series after series, the offense on fire, Jorge Polanco at the plate right now and career journey, the injury to Logan Gilbert right now, and his “good stuff.”
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us right now with the radio show. Our friend
been a couple of weeks with a draft. Last week,
we gave Booneie the week off the rest and play
thirty six. Here he is, courtesy Avenue Kings dot Com.
Our friend Brett Boone Booneye, how are you man?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm doing well. How are you guys, Hugh? How are
you doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Doing great?
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Boone? Yeah? Good to be with you exciting times. On
what's your thought about this baseball team?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I'll tell you what that's about. From from the we
had a hiatus last week, we had the draft. That's
about as good of a turnaround as I could possibly
imagine for these Mariners. Ended up having a sixteen and
nine April. The offensive turnaround has been really impressive. It's
been really imp What Polanco's doing, you know, with the
(00:44):
knee and kind of relegated to d H and seventy
two at bats is ridiculous coming from where he was
a year ago. I never saw this coming. What I'm
really impressed with and the guy that really has turned
it around for them and is a key guy. Well,
I mean he's always key on defense, It's Crawford, but
(01:04):
what he's done in the last couple of weeks to
It's like, where has that offensive player been for a
year and a half. He's the guy that I always
wanted up in a big situation, in a sacrifice fly situation,
he'd always work a good at bat. He's back to
being that guy coming up big in those situations. Got
a four to twenty three on base percentage. Raleigh's continuing
(01:25):
to own that kind of label. Is the best catcher
in the game right now, and a lot of things
are working for these guys. I'm really impressed. I don't
think Munio's for the body of work that he's accumulated.
Now we should start talking about Munhos in the in
the class of a Bautista and Assuarez with the padres
A hater, I know he hasn't been around as long
(01:45):
as hater Plasse I'm talking about with the elite elite closers.
Hasn't given up a run yet. I'm a lot of
positive things, by the way, right now, I see a
lot of positive things. I mean, Raley going down more
was doing unbelieve utility players. That's when you're getting all
you can out of him. I know he's on the
shelf right now. A little worrisome for the Gilbert situation.
(02:08):
I hear brash An Kirby or maybe Sunday doing a
rehab have a rehab assignment. So those are the negatives.
But on the offensive side and just the way they're
playing right now, the amount of runs they're scoring softy.
I don't think I was gonna be able to say
this for this group of offensive players, but I was
looking at the offensive numbers, and I mean home runs,
(02:30):
your second ops, third, RBIs runs, third, walks first, first
in the league, stolen base first in the league. They're
still punching out, but they're fifth worst, they're not worse.
So all these huge improvements top of the division, I
still think it's going to be an ultra ultra competitive division.
(02:53):
I haven't been watching Houston until recently, and they're like
that team that just won't go away. They're sitting there
in second place right now sixteen and fourteen. They got
the best bullpen in baseball with the exception of probably
the San Diego Padres. But they're a thorn and everybody's
side and have been for a while. I think it's
gonna be a real competitive division with the two Texas
teams with Seattle, but I can't give him higher marks
(03:17):
than two weeks ago to today. How they've turned this around?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Now you mentioned the walks boone leading the league in walks.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I mean, to be fair, they were top four and
walks a year ago, so they're pretty good in that
category last year, but now they're number one. And look,
I mean strikeouts okay, fine, So what right? Score runs? Okay?
I mean the ninety seven Mariners scored a buttload of
runs and struck out a ton, but nobody cared because
they scored runs.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
When do you strike out? Is the thing?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Right? Exactly?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
That's what it comes down to.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Well, let me ask you this about Polanco, all right,
because the conversation has been brought up about him. He's
got boney over four thousand plate appearances in his career.
He's got one at bat as a lefty against a lefty,
and he's got one at bat as a righty against
the right He just doesn't do it. And right now
he cannot hit from the right side of the plate.
(04:05):
So when there's a lefty out there, like there was
with Tyler Anderson yesterday, he sits. And that's the day
that cal Riley gets to dh right. So I asked you,
I asked a couple of other ex major leaguers. I
got different answers from everybody. Would you consider if he's comfortable,
which apparently he's not, so it's kind of a moot point.
Would you consider letting Polanko hit lefty against lefties?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Absolutely? If I have a guy right now hitting three
eighty four and he's driven in twenty five runs and
seventy two at bats, I'm gonna let him do whatever
he wants. Got nine home runs. Absolutely, But as you said,
that's an internal thing. That's him, that's Dan Edgar, Kevin Sitzer.
That's an internal discussion that the comfort level. I don't
(04:51):
want to mess up what we got going here from
the left side by putting that in my brain and
really being lost. He might just really not feel comfort.
I don't know many switch hitters that would feel comfortable
facing arm armside guys when your whole life you haven't.
I can talk from my experience when I face a
lefty versus a right it's night and day. I can
(05:15):
get away with so much more. If I've got a
left hander in the box, I don't have to worry
about anything going away. From me. I can kind of
hover and kind of just hover out over that plate
and not really worried about it. Like I said, that
tight slider going away from me. That's a chase pitch
for the most of the time. When I've got a
lefty out there, I can let everything come to me
and just kind of hover out over to that plate.
(05:36):
I can close my stance if I want. And I
noticed this about Polanka from a year ago. He had
the open stance left handed and right handed. He's closed
that stance up. Well, that makes sense to me because
I always had an open stance to write you on
writ it because I needed to have my right eye
both eyes facing the pitcher so I could see the
ball better. When it was a lefty, I didn't have
(05:57):
to because I was I could have both eyes looking
at because it's on the other side of that arm,
so I could kind of get away with a lot more.
That's why I closed up. If I closed up against
the righty, man, i'm gonna I'm gonna feel that left
side pull out. But when you're facing the opposite arm,
you can close up and be just really comfortable there.
(06:17):
I don't know how comfortable he'd be against a tough
lefty with that new closed stance that's that's shown him
a lot of success this year, all of a sudden, Hey,
I got to face a lefty. So yeah, I'm sure
that's been an internal discussion. At the end of the day,
it's going to be how comfortable is he worth doing it?
And do you want to mess up this really good
(06:39):
thing he's got going right now by going lefty on
lefty and now all of a sudden you're searching for
your swing lefty on righty. So it's a catch twenty two.
But I think it's an internal discussion that you know,
Polanco has been around long enough. I mean, this isn't
a rash decision. You either do it or you don't
do it. He's an experienced guy, he's got Ed, he's
(07:00):
got Seicher, he's got Dan Wilson, plenty of experience there.
So we'll see. I would be I would be shocked
if I saw that. But but yeah, it's something that's
definitely an option. And as the skipper, I'm gonna let
my star offensive player do what he wants.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Brett boone with us, and Boonie, let's stay with Jorge
because he comes in the league at twenty fourteen as
a twenty year old with the Twins, and now he's
sitting here at thirty one. I mean he's his ops
at twelve twenty six. You probably know this or thereabouts.
That would be if he could keep this going the
(07:35):
top twenty five in the history of baseball for a
season now. I don't think any of us expect that,
but that just speaks to how well he's playing. Is
it possible at age thirty one that that he's kind
of like in a new prime type of thing, like like, like,
what's the idea that we're going to get a couple
more years out of this guy? And seemingly even though
(07:56):
he's in his twelfth year, maybe maybe something like a
prime time years.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Absolutely, I mean thirty one years to I remember my
thirty Some of my best years were thirty, thirty one,
thirty two. That comes with experience that comes with falling
on your face a lot and being dealt a lot
of humble pie throughout your career to kind of finally
learn that's how I kind of got. I got to Seattle,
I got with some guys that really said some things
(08:23):
that really resonated with my hitting approach, and I changed
my whole approach and I was a different player. So yes,
it can happen. Thirty, thirty one, thirty two, I remember
those years. You're still very young physically in baseball years.
Now you get to thirty five, thirty six, that's a
different ballgame. That's when you start to know, you start
to feel your age. That's old in baseball terms. But
(08:45):
thirty one, oh, I don't worry about that. And to
see him have a resurgence, did I see it coming.
I'd be lying if I said I did. But absolutely
it can be done, and that comes with experience, trial
and error failing. He had a rough I mean a
couple of you go back three four years, he had
thirty home run here or maybe a couple thirty home
run years with the Minnesota Twins. So it's been in there.
(09:08):
It's just a matter of whatever he did this offseason,
whatever he's going through right now, it's clicking. And I'll
guarantee you if you ask him, he doesn't want to
talk about it. Just ride this wave, because you know baseball,
it's fickle, especially hitting, and it's not there all the time,
as our numbers through the years will show. So yeah, absolutely,
thirty one, you're still a young man in baseball years.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Well, I totally saw this coming with Polonko I called it, by.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
The way, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Brett Boone with us Boonie.
You mentioned Gilbert there with the injury. Look, I obviously
this is a pitching injury, but you know how elbows
work with pitchers, and you start to hear about a
flexer strain in his right elbow, and that is the
alarm bell start going off with this guy, right because
(09:55):
how hard he throws, how young he is, all that stuff.
What's your concern meter? I guess for this guy long
term with this this elbow problem.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well, I think today the culture of the way it is,
it seems like you can't avoid it. Inevitably, at some
point in your career, it's gonna happen. You're gonna hear
that TJ line, and it's gonna happen. Whether this is
the time for Gilbert, I don't know. Right now I
feel okay about it, but nowadays you just never know,
(10:26):
you never know. It concerns me a little bit because
of that. I mean, you still got uh, some very
formidable guys at that starting rotation with Castillo with Wu
and with Miller. Hancock actually did a nice job yesterday.
They ended up winning another game, but I'd be a
lot more comfortable with Kirby and Gilbert sitting there in
my rotation for the long haul and for that playoff push.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
So kind of cross your fingers.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I'm feeling I'm not feeling bad about it, but I know,
I know Gilbert in his makeup, seems to be the
type of guy that he's not just going to go
on the il for fifteen days because he feels a
little bit of a twinge or he's being precautionary. Something's
going on in there, and so I don't feel great
about it, but I also don't feel terrible about it.
(11:12):
It's going to be a wait and see thing.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Meanwhile, I think, for me, the most encouraging thing. Yeah,
the offense is great. I don't know if they can
keep it up, but we've seen so little of Emerson
Hancock over his career, just nineteen starts. The fact that
last night another quality start is second in a row.
I didn't quite understand how they yanked him down to
(11:35):
Tacoma after that first start, But you know, you'd be
able to reflect on that better, But just kind of
what's your thought about Emerson Hancock and the idea with
him at just twenty six, we could be seeing a
guy that could be a real quality starter.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah, and he's kind of you could they've kind of
handled him with kick gloves because of the quality of
this starting rotation and the durability of it. You know,
when Castillo missed some time a year ago, Hancock was
there for he was the perfect sixth starter for this rotation,
and he's gotten plenty of reps. Now he's he's kind
of learning on the job or learning on the fly.
He hasn't had that role where hey, you're gonna be
(12:13):
our fourth guy, You're gonna be our fifth guy. He's
always been the swing guy. He's always been that guy
on the on the on the uh, going back and
forth to triple A. And he's never had that Okay,
I'm the number four starter and I'm gonna I'm gonna
get thirty thirty starts this year. He hasn't had that
luxury yet. But uh, he's kind of learning on the job.
He's got good stuff. Every time I watch a pitch,
(12:35):
I think, man, this guy's got some some pretty darn
good stuff, and and it seems like he always makes
one mistake and and next thing, you know, whoever was
whoever he was filling in for at the time, gets
healthy and it's back, and Hancock's back in triple A.
So maybe when he gets some more consistent reps and
and kind of goes every fifth day, he'll start to
(12:55):
sett a little more. He's twenty six years old, He's
got plenty of time. This is this is nothing new.
This isn't uh, we're not reinventing the wheel here. It's
just he's He's never and I'll guarantee a little bit
of him feels that like I've never had that security
of being the guy one of the guys in that rotation.
I'm always filling in. Well, sometimes you got to do that,
(13:16):
you know, guy, A guy uh familiar to Seattle fans,
Ryan Franklin started off that way, ended up being a
relief pitcher of the year and a closer for the
Saint Louis Cardinals. So you never know how you're gonna start,
But it's all learning on the job and you wait
for that opportunity and and uh, that's the guys that
have the long careers answer that opportunity positively, So I
(13:37):
see a positive future for Hancock. I like the stuff.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Well, let's follow up on that, because you know, we
always hear the story, Oh he's got he's got good stuff,
and uh, I think I have an idea. You know,
it's kind of like quarterbacks and arm talent. Okay, okay,
uh there's kind of a fuzzy vision of that sometimes.
But when you use the term, I see uh Emerson handcoff,
and I see good stuff. From a hitter's perspective, define
(14:05):
what good stuff means as opposed to you get in
the box and you say, eh, he's just kind of
got average stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Amplify the ball, the ball that moves. The ball that
moves is always a problem for the hitter. Now, I
can never tell until I actually get in the box
and field the ball come off my bat. I've seen
guys that it's moving all over the place, but we
call it a light two steamer. If he throws you,
it looks like it's moving a lot. But when you
hit it, man, it jumps. And then there's the heavy
two steamer that you feel like you're hitting a bowling
(14:32):
ball off off, you know, and it's tough to square up.
Mariano's cutter was heavy. Greg Maddox's sinker was heavy. It
just it was tough to barrel it up and when
you did, it seemed like it didn't go anywhere. See,
you can't really tell, but I see that the movement
on his pitches. And what I look for sitting on
the couch now is predictability. I look at young pitchers
(14:55):
and it's like I can call their pitches from the couch.
There's others do big hitters out there or big league
hitters out there that are thinking like I'm thinking right now.
When you become predictable, when I know this is a
slider count for you, and even if it's not, it's
in the next two pitches, I can just sit on
your neck and wait for those pitches. That's the learning curve.
(15:16):
That's the thing with a young Clark Schmidt. When I
used to watch him pitch for the Yankees, I would
call my brother and say, this is ridiculous. He can't
be in your rotation. He's so predictable. These good hitting
teams are gonna wear him out all of a sudden.
A year later, he was changing how he pitched. He
wasn't as predictable. He came a long way, he learned.
(15:36):
Hancock's got that ability, He's got the ability, He's got
the stuff. But a lot of guys have stuff nowadays.
It's can you hone it in? Can you go strike one?
Can you consistently be ahead in the count when you
get ahead of the count? Can you put guys away? Well,
that's what we're gonna find out. But the stuff, and
I know what you're saying, Hugh, stuff. Everybody can throw
around stuff, but they want to see more than stuff.
(15:59):
They want to see res I was.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Just looking at some numbers real quick. It's a game
I like to play called let's take out the worst
three starts of a guy's career and see what he
does the rest of the time. Because they like Bryce Miller,
for example, last year, had the era was not where
you wanted it to be, I think overall, but you
take out a couple of games and it plummeted dramatically.
Emerson Hancock guys has made nineteen starts in the major leagues.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
He's allowed fifty.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
One earned runs in nineteen starts, and that would give
him what a what's his era five point zero eight era?
Of those fifteen zero A right, but which is bad
not good. But of those fifty one earned runs he's allowed,
nineteen of them came in three games over nine innings.
(16:46):
The other sixteen starts. The guy's got a three point
five to four era. He had the game earlier this
year that you referenced to you six innings in two thirds.
He gave up eight over three and a third last year,
and then gave up five over five two years ago
when he was a rookie. So the key for him
is just avoiding quadruple bogie, right, I mean, he does
that and he's been phenomenal. But Booty, before you go
(17:09):
real quick, if you were to have told me the
Mariners are on pace to finish third in baseball and
run scored based on last year's numbers, I would have said, well, damn,
Julio's the MVP of the American League.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
That's not happening. What's going on with forty four? Man?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I don't know. I mean it's you know, last year
he kind of salvaged a decent year. It was it
was a grind for him all year, you know, coming
off the previous year being an All Star and having
a real good season for him. I can't put my
finger on it. He's all the skill set is there,
and I've talked endlessly about the skill set that Julio possesses,
(17:48):
but it's just not clicking, and there's something different. It's
it's almost like I know I have the skill set.
I've been told I'm being paid like I have the
skill set. Now I have to be one of these
stars in the game. I have to be the errand
judge of my team. I've got to be the Bryce
Harper and the Mike Trout of my team. And it
seems like it's not let it happen. Sometimes you got it, Coop.
(18:11):
The big moment comes up. And I see this with
Julio a lot. In a big situate, man, he goes harder,
he goes harder, And those are the times as a VET,
as a player, as a mature player, you got to
let the game come to you know that the pressure's
on the pitcher, it's not on me and those when
there's runners out there. I just see he gets a
little anxious, wants to do a little too much. That's
partly being very young still, and I know he's not
(18:34):
young baseball wise. He's got plenty of experience in the
big leagues now to be giving him that excuse of oh,
he's just young. No, he's young in age, but he's
got a lot of a Major League Baseball service time.
So I don't know what it is, you know, two
o seven, four and fourteen for the star of your team.
For me, that's not getting it done. Still playing a
great center field, but they expect a lot more out
(18:55):
of that. Good news is Rawley's really picking up the
slack Polonko Rose Arena. He's hitting around two hundred, but
he's had some huge hits this year. Young kid Williamson,
he looks pretty good. You know, I need a bigger
I need a bigger sample size. You know. I looked
at his minor league statistics. He wasn't there long. Only
had five hundred and sixty at bats and not much
(19:16):
power there seven to fifty five ops. But so far,
so good. He's having quality of bats, he doesn't strike
out a lot, and to this point playing a pretty
good third. That'll be interesting for me to watch. But
I told you i'd be watching him, and I need
a little more for sample size before I give you
my opinion on Williamson. But so far, he's holding served
(19:38):
pretty good.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
All right man, good stuff. We'll talking a week see
it all right, guys.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Thanks you moon with us on the radio show land
Zerline's going to join us at five point twenty and
give us his thoughts recapping the draft.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
He'll do the one thing that you can't stand with
a draft.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
He'll give us a grade on the Seahawks at five
twenty tonight, right here on ninety three three KJRFM
Joining us right now with the radio show. Our friend
been a couple of weeks with a draft. Last week,
we gave Booneie the week off the rest and play
thirty six. Here he is, courtesy Avenue Kings dot Com.
Our friend Brett Boone Booneye, how are you man?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm doing well. How are you guys, Hugh? How are
you doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Doing great?
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Boone? Yeah? Good to be with you exciting times. On
what's your thought about this baseball team?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I'll tell you what that's about. From from the we
had a hiatus last week, we had the draft. That's
about as good of a turnaround as I could possibly
imagine for these Mariners. Ended up having a sixteen and
nine April. The offensive turnaround has been really impressive. It's
been really imp What Polanco's doing, you know, with the
(00:44):
knee and kind of relegated to d H and seventy
two at bats is ridiculous coming from where he was
a year ago. I never saw this coming. What I'm
really impressed with and the guy that really has turned
it around for them and is a key guy. Well,
I mean he's always key on defense, It's Crawford, but
(01:04):
what he's done in the last couple of weeks to
It's like, where has that offensive player been for a
year and a half. He's the guy that I always
wanted up in a big situation, in a sacrifice fly situation,
he'd always work a good at bat. He's back to
being that guy coming up big in those situations. Got
a four to twenty three on base percentage. Raleigh's continuing
(01:25):
to own that kind of label. Is the best catcher
in the game right now, and a lot of things
are working for these guys. I'm really impressed. I don't
think Munio's for the body of work that he's accumulated.
Now we should start talking about Munhos in the in
the class of a Bautista and Assuarez with the padres
A hater, I know he hasn't been around as long
(01:45):
as hater Plasse I'm talking about with the elite elite closers.
Hasn't given up a run yet. I'm a lot of
positive things, by the way, right now, I see a
lot of positive things. I mean, Raley going down more
was doing unbelieve utility players. That's when you're getting all
you can out of him. I know he's on the
shelf right now. A little worrisome for the Gilbert situation.
(02:08):
I hear brash An Kirby or maybe Sunday doing a
rehab have a rehab assignment. So those are the negatives.
But on the offensive side and just the way they're
playing right now, the amount of runs they're scoring softy.
I don't think I was gonna be able to say
this for this group of offensive players, but I was
looking at the offensive numbers, and I mean home runs,
(02:30):
your second ops, third, RBIs runs, third, walks first, first
in the league, stolen base first in the league. They're
still punching out, but they're fifth worst, they're not worse.
So all these huge improvements top of the division, I
still think it's going to be an ultra ultra competitive division.
(02:53):
I haven't been watching Houston until recently, and they're like
that team that just won't go away. They're sitting there
in second place right now sixteen and fourteen. They got
the best bullpen in baseball with the exception of probably
the San Diego Padres. But they're a thorn and everybody's
side and have been for a while. I think it's
gonna be a real competitive division with the two Texas
teams with Seattle, but I can't give him higher marks
(03:17):
than two weeks ago to today. How they've turned this around?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Now you mentioned the walks boone leading the league in walks.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I mean, to be fair, they were top four and
walks a year ago, so they're pretty good in that
category last year, but now they're number one. And look,
I mean strikeouts okay, fine, So what right? Score runs? Okay?
I mean the ninety seven Mariners scored a buttload of
runs and struck out a ton, but nobody cared because
they scored runs.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
When do you strike out? Is the thing?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Right? Exactly?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
That's what it comes down to.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Well, let me ask you this about Polanco, all right,
because the conversation has been brought up about him. He's
got boney over four thousand plate appearances in his career.
He's got one at bat as a lefty against a lefty,
and he's got one at bat as a righty against
the right He just doesn't do it. And right now
he cannot hit from the right side of the plate.
(04:05):
So when there's a lefty out there, like there was
with Tyler Anderson yesterday, he sits. And that's the day
that cal Riley gets to dh right. So I asked you,
I asked a couple of other ex major leaguers. I
got different answers from everybody. Would you consider if he's comfortable,
which apparently he's not, so it's kind of a moot point.
Would you consider letting Polanko hit lefty against lefties?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Absolutely? If I have a guy right now hitting three
eighty four and he's driven in twenty five runs and
seventy two at bats, I'm gonna let him do whatever
he wants. Got nine home runs. Absolutely, But as you said,
that's an internal thing. That's him, that's Dan Edgar, Kevin Sitzer.
That's an internal discussion that the comfort level. I don't
(04:51):
want to mess up what we got going here from
the left side by putting that in my brain and
really being lost. He might just really not feel comfort.
I don't know many switch hitters that would feel comfortable
facing arm armside guys when your whole life you haven't.
I can talk from my experience when I face a
lefty versus a right it's night and day. I can
(05:15):
get away with so much more. If I've got a
left hander in the box, I don't have to worry
about anything going away. From me. I can kind of
hover and kind of just hover out over that plate
and not really worried about it. Like I said, that
tight slider going away from me. That's a chase pitch
for the most of the time. When I've got a
lefty out there, I can let everything come to me
and just kind of hover out over to that plate.
(05:36):
I can close my stance if I want. And I
noticed this about Polanka from a year ago. He had
the open stance left handed and right handed. He's closed
that stance up. Well, that makes sense to me because
I always had an open stance to write you on
writ it because I needed to have my right eye
both eyes facing the pitcher so I could see the
ball better. When it was a lefty, I didn't have
(05:57):
to because I was I could have both eyes looking
at because it's on the other side of that arm,
so I could kind of get away with a lot more.
That's why I closed up. If I closed up against
the righty, man, i'm gonna I'm gonna feel that left
side pull out. But when you're facing the opposite arm,
you can close up and be just really comfortable there.
(06:17):
I don't know how comfortable he'd be against a tough
lefty with that new closed stance that's that's shown him
a lot of success this year, all of a sudden, Hey,
I got to face a lefty. So yeah, I'm sure
that's been an internal discussion. At the end of the day,
it's going to be how comfortable is he worth doing it?
And do you want to mess up this really good
(06:39):
thing he's got going right now by going lefty on
lefty and now all of a sudden you're searching for
your swing lefty on righty. So it's a catch twenty two.
But I think it's an internal discussion that you know,
Polanco has been around long enough. I mean, this isn't
a rash decision. You either do it or you don't
do it. He's an experienced guy, he's got Ed, he's
(07:00):
got Seicher, he's got Dan Wilson, plenty of experience there.
So we'll see. I would be I would be shocked
if I saw that. But but yeah, it's something that's
definitely an option. And as the skipper, I'm gonna let
my star offensive player do what he wants.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Brett boone with us, and Boonie, let's stay with Jorge
because he comes in the league at twenty fourteen as
a twenty year old with the Twins, and now he's
sitting here at thirty one. I mean he's his ops
at twelve twenty six. You probably know this or thereabouts.
That would be if he could keep this going the
(07:35):
top twenty five in the history of baseball for a
season now. I don't think any of us expect that,
but that just speaks to how well he's playing. Is
it possible at age thirty one that that he's kind
of like in a new prime type of thing, like like, like,
what's the idea that we're going to get a couple
more years out of this guy? And seemingly even though
(07:56):
he's in his twelfth year, maybe maybe something like a
prime time years.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Absolutely, I mean thirty one years to I remember my
thirty Some of my best years were thirty, thirty one,
thirty two. That comes with experience that comes with falling
on your face a lot and being dealt a lot
of humble pie throughout your career to kind of finally
learn that's how I kind of got. I got to Seattle,
I got with some guys that really said some things
(08:23):
that really resonated with my hitting approach, and I changed
my whole approach and I was a different player. So yes,
it can happen. Thirty, thirty one, thirty two, I remember
those years. You're still very young physically in baseball years.
Now you get to thirty five, thirty six, that's a
different ballgame. That's when you start to know, you start
to feel your age. That's old in baseball terms. But
(08:45):
thirty one, oh, I don't worry about that. And to
see him have a resurgence, did I see it coming.
I'd be lying if I said I did. But absolutely
it can be done, and that comes with experience, trial
and error failing. He had a rough I mean a
couple of you go back three four years, he had
thirty home run here or maybe a couple thirty home
run years with the Minnesota Twins. So it's been in there.
(09:08):
It's just a matter of whatever he did this offseason,
whatever he's going through right now, it's clicking. And I'll
guarantee you if you ask him, he doesn't want to
talk about it. Just ride this wave, because you know baseball,
it's fickle, especially hitting, and it's not there all the time,
as our numbers through the years will show. So yeah, absolutely,
thirty one, you're still a young man in baseball years.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Well, I totally saw this coming with Polonko I called it, by.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
The way, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Brett Boone with us Boonie.
You mentioned Gilbert there with the injury. Look, I obviously
this is a pitching injury, but you know how elbows
work with pitchers, and you start to hear about a
flexer strain in his right elbow, and that is the
alarm bell start going off with this guy, right because
(09:55):
how hard he throws, how young he is, all that stuff.
What's your concern meter? I guess for this guy long
term with this this elbow problem.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well, I think today the culture of the way it is,
it seems like you can't avoid it. Inevitably, at some
point in your career, it's gonna happen. You're gonna hear
that TJ line, and it's gonna happen. Whether this is
the time for Gilbert, I don't know. Right now I
feel okay about it, but nowadays you just never know,
(10:26):
you never know. It concerns me a little bit because
of that. I mean, you still got uh, some very
formidable guys at that starting rotation with Castillo with Wu
and with Miller. Hancock actually did a nice job yesterday.
They ended up winning another game, but I'd be a
lot more comfortable with Kirby and Gilbert sitting there in
my rotation for the long haul and for that playoff push.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
So kind of cross your fingers.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I'm feeling I'm not feeling bad about it, but I know,
I know Gilbert in his makeup, seems to be the
type of guy that he's not just going to go
on the il for fifteen days because he feels a
little bit of a twinge or he's being precautionary. Something's
going on in there, and so I don't feel great
about it, but I also don't feel terrible about it.
(11:12):
It's going to be a wait and see thing.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Meanwhile, I think, for me, the most encouraging thing. Yeah,
the offense is great. I don't know if they can
keep it up, but we've seen so little of Emerson
Hancock over his career, just nineteen starts. The fact that
last night another quality start is second in a row.
I didn't quite understand how they yanked him down to
(11:35):
Tacoma after that first start, But you know, you'd be
able to reflect on that better, But just kind of
what's your thought about Emerson Hancock and the idea with
him at just twenty six, we could be seeing a
guy that could be a real quality starter.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah, and he's kind of you could they've kind of
handled him with kick gloves because of the quality of
this starting rotation and the durability of it. You know,
when Castillo missed some time a year ago, Hancock was
there for he was the perfect sixth starter for this rotation,
and he's gotten plenty of reps. Now he's he's kind
of learning on the job or learning on the fly.
He hasn't had that role where hey, you're gonna be
(12:13):
our fourth guy, You're gonna be our fifth guy. He's
always been the swing guy. He's always been that guy
on the on the on the uh, going back and
forth to triple A. And he's never had that Okay,
I'm the number four starter and I'm gonna I'm gonna
get thirty thirty starts this year. He hasn't had that
luxury yet. But uh, he's kind of learning on the job.
He's got good stuff. Every time I watch a pitch,
(12:35):
I think, man, this guy's got some some pretty darn
good stuff, and and it seems like he always makes
one mistake and and next thing, you know, whoever was
whoever he was filling in for at the time, gets
healthy and it's back, and Hancock's back in triple A.
So maybe when he gets some more consistent reps and
and kind of goes every fifth day, he'll start to
(12:55):
sett a little more. He's twenty six years old, He's
got plenty of time. This is this is nothing new.
This isn't uh, we're not reinventing the wheel here. It's
just he's He's never and I'll guarantee a little bit
of him feels that like I've never had that security
of being the guy one of the guys in that rotation.
I'm always filling in. Well, sometimes you got to do that,
(13:16):
you know, guy, A guy uh familiar to Seattle fans,
Ryan Franklin started off that way, ended up being a
relief pitcher of the year and a closer for the
Saint Louis Cardinals. So you never know how you're gonna start,
But it's all learning on the job and you wait
for that opportunity and and uh, that's the guys that
have the long careers answer that opportunity positively, So I
(13:37):
see a positive future for Hancock. I like the stuff.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Well, let's follow up on that, because you know, we
always hear the story, Oh he's got he's got good stuff,
and uh, I think I have an idea. You know,
it's kind of like quarterbacks and arm talent. Okay, okay,
uh there's kind of a fuzzy vision of that sometimes.
But when you use the term, I see uh Emerson handcoff,
and I see good stuff. From a hitter's perspective, define
(14:05):
what good stuff means as opposed to you get in
the box and you say, eh, he's just kind of
got average stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Amplify the ball, the ball that moves. The ball that
moves is always a problem for the hitter. Now, I
can never tell until I actually get in the box
and field the ball come off my bat. I've seen
guys that it's moving all over the place, but we
call it a light two steamer. If he throws you,
it looks like it's moving a lot. But when you
hit it, man, it jumps. And then there's the heavy
two steamer that you feel like you're hitting a bowling
(14:32):
ball off off, you know, and it's tough to square up.
Mariano's cutter was heavy. Greg Maddox's sinker was heavy. It
just it was tough to barrel it up and when
you did, it seemed like it didn't go anywhere. See,
you can't really tell, but I see that the movement
on his pitches. And what I look for sitting on
the couch now is predictability. I look at young pitchers
(14:55):
and it's like I can call their pitches from the couch.
There's others do big hitters out there or big league
hitters out there that are thinking like I'm thinking right now.
When you become predictable, when I know this is a
slider count for you, and even if it's not, it's
in the next two pitches, I can just sit on
your neck and wait for those pitches. That's the learning curve.
(15:16):
That's the thing with a young Clark Schmidt. When I
used to watch him pitch for the Yankees, I would
call my brother and say, this is ridiculous. He can't
be in your rotation. He's so predictable. These good hitting
teams are gonna wear him out all of a sudden.
A year later, he was changing how he pitched. He
wasn't as predictable. He came a long way, he learned.
(15:36):
Hancock's got that ability, He's got the ability, He's got
the stuff. But a lot of guys have stuff nowadays.
It's can you hone it in? Can you go strike one?
Can you consistently be ahead in the count when you
get ahead of the count? Can you put guys away? Well,
that's what we're gonna find out. But the stuff, and
I know what you're saying, Hugh, stuff. Everybody can throw
around stuff, but they want to see more than stuff.
(15:59):
They want to see res I was.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Just looking at some numbers real quick. It's a game
I like to play called let's take out the worst
three starts of a guy's career and see what he
does the rest of the time. Because they like Bryce Miller,
for example, last year, had the era was not where
you wanted it to be, I think overall, but you
take out a couple of games and it plummeted dramatically.
Emerson Hancock guys has made nineteen starts in the major leagues.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
He's allowed fifty.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
One earned runs in nineteen starts, and that would give
him what a what's his era five point zero eight era?
Of those fifteen zero A right, but which is bad
not good. But of those fifty one earned runs he's allowed,
nineteen of them came in three games over nine innings.
(16:46):
The other sixteen starts. The guy's got a three point
five to four era. He had the game earlier this
year that you referenced to you six innings in two thirds.
He gave up eight over three and a third last year,
and then gave up five over five two years ago
when he was a rookie. So the key for him
is just avoiding quadruple bogie, right, I mean, he does
that and he's been phenomenal. But Booty, before you go
(17:09):
real quick, if you were to have told me the
Mariners are on pace to finish third in baseball and
run scored based on last year's numbers, I would have said, well, damn,
Julio's the MVP of the American League.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
That's not happening. What's going on with forty four? Man?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I don't know. I mean it's you know, last year
he kind of salvaged a decent year. It was it
was a grind for him all year, you know, coming
off the previous year being an All Star and having
a real good season for him. I can't put my
finger on it. He's all the skill set is there,
and I've talked endlessly about the skill set that Julio possesses,
(17:48):
but it's just not clicking, and there's something different. It's
it's almost like I know I have the skill set.
I've been told I'm being paid like I have the
skill set. Now I have to be one of these
stars in the game. I have to be the errand
judge of my team. I've got to be the Bryce
Harper and the Mike Trout of my team. And it
seems like it's not let it happen. Sometimes you got it, Coop.
(18:11):
The big moment comes up. And I see this with
Julio a lot. In a big situate, man, he goes harder,
he goes harder, And those are the times as a VET,
as a player, as a mature player, you got to
let the game come to you know that the pressure's
on the pitcher, it's not on me and those when
there's runners out there. I just see he gets a
little anxious, wants to do a little too much. That's
partly being very young still, and I know he's not
(18:34):
young baseball wise. He's got plenty of experience in the
big leagues now to be giving him that excuse of oh,
he's just young. No, he's young in age, but he's
got a lot of a Major League Baseball service time.
So I don't know what it is, you know, two
o seven, four and fourteen for the star of your team.
For me, that's not getting it done. Still playing a
great center field, but they expect a lot more out
(18:55):
of that. Good news is Rawley's really picking up the
slack Polonko Rose Arena. He's hitting around two hundred, but
he's had some huge hits this year. Young kid Williamson,
he looks pretty good. You know, I need a bigger
I need a bigger sample size. You know. I looked
at his minor league statistics. He wasn't there long. Only
had five hundred and sixty at bats and not much
(19:16):
power there seven to fifty five ops. But so far,
so good. He's having quality of bats, he doesn't strike
out a lot, and to this point playing a pretty
good third. That'll be interesting for me to watch. But
I told you i'd be watching him, and I need
a little more for sample size before I give you
my opinion on Williamson. But so far, he's holding served
(19:38):
pretty good.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
All right man, good stuff. We'll talking a week see
it all right, guys.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Thanks you moon with us on the radio show land
Zerline's going to join us at five point twenty and
give us his thoughts recapping the draft.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
He'll do the one thing that you can't stand with
a draft.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
He'll give us a grade on the Seahawks at five
twenty tonight, right here on ninety three three KJRFM
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