3 Biggest Takeaways from the 1st Month of Seattle Mariners' Season

There's really only one word that could describe the first month of the 2015 season for the Seattle Mariners: underwhelming.

The Mariners finished April at 10-12 before dropping their first three games of May. A sweep of the Texas Rangers near the end of the first month looked to generate some momentum, but a four-game demolition at the hands of the red-hot Houston Astros ended any hope of that.

Houston probably isn't going to continue its .720 pace and finish with the best record in the American League. Still, an eight-game defect in early May is pretty significant.

Seattle's offense has looked much improved at times, and it has gotten a few good performances out of the pitching staff. The problem has been getting every facet of the team to play well at the same time.

While it's still early, a few storylines for the 2015 season took shape in the first month.

New additions have been carrying the team

Nelson Cruz, J.A. Happ, Seth Smith and Justin Ruggiano have combined for 2.3 WAR so far. The Mariners have 2.7 WAR as a team.

Cruz has been better than Seattle could have even hoped for, already putting up better numbers than the Mariners got from right field or the designated hitter spot in the entire 2014 season. He leads the majors with 13 home runs and 25 RBI and surely looks on the way to one of the more prolific power-hitting seasons for a Mariner in recent memory.

Smith and Ruggiano got off to choppy starts but look like a solid platoon. Ruggiano in particular looks like a wise bench pickup, as he can get on base via plate discipline, steal some bags and play all three outfield positions. The Mariners will likely be seeing more of him in center over the next few days after Austin Jackson rolled his ankle on Sunday.

Other than a bad start against the seemingly unstoppable Astros on Sunday, Happ has also been brilliant. Happ isn't generating a ton of strikeouts, but he showed excellent control and didn't give up too much hard contact in his first four starts before Sunday.

Don't expect the imbalance between newcomers and holdovers to last forever. Cruz can't possibly be this good forever, and Happ will likely regress some, too, while Robinson Cano is going to finish the season with more than 0.0 WAR. Still, it's nice to see some new players come in and succeed after the Mariners have been burned by free-agent busts so often in the past.

Felix Hernandez is better than ever

At 29 years old, Hernandez just passed ageless wonder Jamie Moyer for most innings pitched in franchise history. It's Hernandez's 11th year with the Mariners, and somehow he keeps getting better.

Even including the brilliant start on Opening Day, Hernandez's best start came April 24 against the Minnesota Twins, when he tossed his first complete-game shutout since August 2012. He followed that up with a game against Texas in which he clearly didn't have his best stuff but still only allowed two runs on five hits and a walk in 6.2 innings.

Hernandez's strikeout rate currently sits at 27.5 percent with a walk rate of 4.6 percent, both career bests. If those rates hold, Hernandez will continue the incredible trend of improving both marks every season since 2011.

With those metrics plus strong traditional stats so far (4-0, 1.82 ERA), Hernandez looks like he's set up for another run at the Cy Young. No matter how the team does, Hernandez's starts should be appreciated—someone of his caliber may not come to the franchise again for a long time.

Mike Zunino and Dustin Ackley look lost

Both Zunino and Ackley came into the season with hopes of a breakout or at least decently productive year. Instead, both have been disasters.

Despite some offseason adjustments, Zunino is again striking out far too often with a career-high rate of 37.8 percent. Zunino's swinging strike percentage is up and his contact rate is down, not exactly a recipe for success.

If there is anything positive in Zunino's start, it's that he's taken six walks after totaling 17 all of last season. But Zunino's strikeout-to-walk percentage, a better indicator of overall plate discipline, is roughly the same.

The ever-inconsistent Ackley has been unable to carry over the hot July and August from last year, posting a 66 wRC+ in the early going. There were some power flashes in the first week when Ackley hit three home runs, but he's been in a horrific slump since.

Strikeouts aren't even a big problem; Ackley just hasn't been making hard contact since those three home runs. His line-drive rate sits at 14.6 percent, well below league average and the worst mark of his career.

This is where Seattle's lack of depth is going to hurt. Zunino really could use the time in Triple-A that he was denied in 2013 for no good reason, but there is certainly no other catcher in the organization ready to been an everyday player.

The Mariners are short on outfielders, too—Rickie Weeks hasn't proved himself worthy of completely replacing Ackley, and there's little other depth at the position, particularly while Jackson is sidelined.

All stats via FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.