ST. LOUIS — Launch angle? Exit velocity? Barrel rate? xwOBA?
Over the last decade, modern baseball has introduced a new language and, for many, a new way to think about the game.
For one of the most accomplished hitters in Seattle Mariners history, though, the new-age analytics are about as useful as Sanskrit.
“I don’t care if you have an exit velocity of 120 [mph],” Edgar Martinez said flatly, standing just outside the batting cage before a weekend game here at Busch Stadium. “If you have the wrong swing, you’re gonna hit still for a low average.”
When he took over as the Mariners’ interim hitting coach two weeks ago, Martinez said he wanted to implement a simple plan for Seattle’s slumping hitters, whom he believed were overthinking and overanalyzing things.
The late-season philosophical shift hasn’t been perfect — did anyone really expect it to be? — but there were more encouraging results in the Mariners’ 10-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the rubber match of their series Sunday afternoon.
The Mariners (73-71) broke things open immediately in the first inning, starting the game with five straight hits and scoring five runs off Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas.
Randy Arozarena added a two-run homer in the second inning, Jorge Polanco hit a two-run homer in the fifth, and the Mariners finished with 13 hits, their fourth double-digit hit total in the past five games.
After getting shut out Saturday night — and wasting one of the best performances of Logan Gilbert’s career — the Mariners offense bounced back in emphatic fashion Sunday to finish off the road trip with a 5-5 record.
“I just think that we came to the park a little mad today,” Luke Raley said.
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