The Mariners Are Swinging Slower, But Dan Wilson Isn't Losing Sleep Over It

The Mariners entered the weekend looking rough at the plate. Half the lineup is swinging slower than last year, averaging 0.7 mph less, and the team's wRC+ sat at 79, which puts them in the bottom five in baseball. It's the kind of thing that gets fans texting each other in the group chat. But before you panic, the team's hitting coach has a message: relax.

Bat Speed Down, But The Numbers Are Messier Than They Look

Here's what actually jumps out when you dig into the data. Only three Mariners have lost more than 1 mph of bat speed. Randy Arozarena has taken the biggest hit, down 3.5 mph, which is the largest drop in all of baseball. Leo Rivas lost 1.6 mph and Brendan Donovan lost 1.3 mph. Everyone else? We're talking sub-1 mph differences. Josh Naylor dropped 0.9 mph, Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez each lost about 0.5 mph. The weird part: Arozarena and Donovan are actually the team's top two hitters by wRC+ so far this season. Slower bat speed doesn't automatically equal worse hitting.

Context Is Everything With Bat Speed

Dan Wilson shut down both the bat speed obsession and the cold weather excuse when asked about it before Saturday's game. "That's pretty negligible from what we've seen before," he said. "It's colder weather, there's just a lot of different factors that could be involved there. That's not something that's concerning us. Obviously, we track, we monitor, but there's nothing that's discernible. We're fourteen games in, there's so much more season to go."

He's got a point. Bat speed isn't one constant measurement. It's captured the exact moment the bat makes contact with the ball, which means it changes based on pitch type, velocity, location, and how well a batter reads the pitcher's hand. Julio could take the same swing at a 99-mph fastball and an 84-mph sweeper and record totally different "bat speeds" because of timing and circumstance. After just 16 games, trying to separate real trends from random noise is nearly impossible.

Timing, Not Mechanics

The real takeaway here? The Mariners' timing is just off. Early-season struggles usually show up as slower swings, not the other way around. This isn't a mechanics crisis or a weather crisis. It's the kind of thing that tends to sort itself out as the season gets rolling and batters get more pitches to hit. You want to start strong, sure, but 14 games in, there's plenty of time left to find their rhythm.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.