Playing Patience or Panic with 4 Troubling Early-Season Seattle Mariners Starts

After a much-anticipated buildup to the start of the season, the Seattle Mariners had a disappointing start to the year before a pair of thrilling victories last weekend gave them some momentum. 

It's still early, but Seattle's 3-7 start has many in the Pacific Northwest concerned. Things turned around with a series win over the Texas Rangers to improve to 5-7, but the Mariners have been playing poorly in every facet of the game while facing a schedule that included three straight playoff teams to begin the year—not exactly a recipe for success.

Surprisingly, the biggest issue so far has been with the starting pitching. The Mariners have had a starter go seven innings or more just three times, as Felix Hernandez and J.A. Happ are the only starters pitching well at the moment.

This team is a lot better than it's shown at times, and a few slow starts should begin to turn around soon. However, some others are worrisome moving forward.

Taijuan Walker, SP

Walker showed some promising signs in his final start of last season and in spring training, tossing 27 innings while allowing just two runs on 10 hits and five walks with 26 strikeouts.

Spring training stats mean virtually nothing, but Walker's velocity was up, and he was showing better secondary pitches and commanding his arsenal very well.

It hasn't translated to the regular season whatsoever. Through two starts, Walker has allowed 14 runs in 7.1 innings with as many walks as strikeouts.

Alex Gallardo/Associated Press

Walker hasn't been getting unlucky, either. He's elevating everything with poor command, allowing a lot of hard contact.

Walker is just 22 years old and at a very advanced level for his age, so the rough start doesn’t necessarily knock down his future value. Still, Walker's a mess on the mound right now, which can't be helping his confidence. Another two or three starts like this, and it will be time to go get Roenis Elias.

Verdict

Panic in terms of Walker's ability to contribute in 2015. Patience for his overall career.

Logan Morrison, 1B

Morrison was nonexistent in seven April games last season before going down with an injury and missing nearly two months. Now in the role of everyday first baseman, Morrison is off to a .195/.250/.195 start in 2015.

Just by the eye test, it feels like Morrison has been hitting the ball as hard as any Seattle batter, sans Nelson Cruz. Two plays stand out: a home run robbery at the hands of Mike Trout on Opening Day, and a deep flyout in the ninth inning of Friday's loss that may have also been a home run if Shin-Soo Choo wouldn't have caught it.

Some numbers back up the notion that Morrison might be getting a bit unlucky at this point in the season. He is currently running a .222 BABIP (batting average on balls in play), compared to a career mark of .281.

He's not striking out much and making contact at an 88.9 percent rate so far. All of that indicates that Morrison's numbers should be improving at least to some degree in the near future.

Despite struggling at points last season, Morrison still finished with an above-average 110 wRC+. It's fair to identify Morrison as a bit of a weakness, and pairing him with Patrick Kivlehan might be the best option later in the year, but he'll show some improvement soon enough.

Verdict

Patience. Morrison isn't going to be great or anything, but he's been really unlucky so far.

Hisashi Iwakuma, SP

Iwakuma's tough stretches have typically come in August or September, as he has succumbed to fatigue late in seasons. This year, Iwakuma has struggled early, allowing eight earned runs in 11 innings pitched.

A Robinson Cano error in the first inning of Iwakuma's opening start didn't help matters, but he's given up mammoth home runs to Albert Pujols, Alex Guerrero and Andre Ethier so far on the season. Perhaps even more concerning is the fact that Iwakuma has not pitched more than 6.1 innings in nine consecutive outings.

Unlike Walker, Iwakuma has generally not had poor command. He's uncharacteristically missed a few spots, but there doesn’t appear to be anything seriously wrong with his stuff or velocity.

Iwakuma currently has a HR/9 mark of 2.45 and a HR/FB rate of 27.3 percent, both over double his career numbers. Those will go down soon, and his numbers should improve overall with a couple of winnable matchups ahead.

Verdict

Patience for now. Those numbers should get better soon, but the stretch run is still a concern.

Mike Zunino, C

Zunino is another player who has been unable to carry over a hot spring. The combination of a full year of experience in the big leagues plus some swing adjustments made Zunino a breakout candidate this season.

Rather than show improvement through those adjustments, Zunino has posted a 33 wRC+ so far. As expected, whiffs have been the problem, as Zunino is only making contact at a 61.1 percent rate right now. It's not just breaking balls, either—Zunino seems to be swinging through hittable fastballs at the moment.

It's still early, but strikeout and walk rates stabilize faster than just about any other stat. Zunino's marks of 43.6 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively, aren't exactly encouraging.

With Zunino's defense and power, he only needs to add a little bit of on-base percentage to be a very valuable catcher. The Mariners may have to still wait a little longer before Zunino is able to do that.

Saturday night finally brought a positive sign, as Zunino annihilated a Colby Lewis slider for his first home run of the season. The power will likely come, but there's only so much value Zunino can provide at the plate.

Verdict

Panic. There haven't been adjustments the Mariners hoped for and expected.

All stats courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.