Is T-Mobile `home sweet home,' for M's

The Seattle Mariners come off a season where they boasted the lowest earned run average in major league baseball- 3.49. They also had the best ERA for a starting rotation (3.38), and their rotation led major league baseball in ten different categories.

However, the Mariners have just missed the playoffs the past two seasons after advancing to the second round in the AL playoffs two years ago.

Plus, there have been questions about whether the Fab Five of Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo (and a nod to Emerson Hancock, who also started ten games), benefit from what has become an extreme pitcher friendly park.

According to the Codify Baseball web site, Seattle and visiting team pitchers combined to give T-Mobile Park (sure some still call it Safeco Field) the best combined earned run average of any major league ballpark.

Two questions arise – are Mariner hitters as bad as their pitchers are good or is T-Mobile a lousy park for hitters that makes pitchers look good?

Certainly, T-Mobile has had its detractors, especially in recent years. The biggest critic may be current Los Angeles Dodger and former Seattle Mariners’ outfielder Teoscar Hernandez. He claims, though many disagree, that the batters’ boxes are crooked and don’t properly align with the pitcher’s mound. Hernandez claims thar batters are looking at the pitcher on a slant.

There’s no question that some ballparks are more conducive to hitters than pitchers. The Oakland Coliseum (baseball people are glad that they don’t have to worry about that place anymore) was a cavernous ballpark with foul territory as large as Rhode Island, leading to balls being caught that would be out of play anywhere else.

Here are some other reasons for T-Mobile being a pitcher’s park according to Google.

Marine Layer: A cold, dense layer of air near the surface, can significantly reduce the distance of fly balls, leading to fewer home runs.

Ballpark Dimensions: T-Mobile Park has a large outfield especially in center and right field. The team actually brought in the fences in the left-center field alley in 2012, going from 390 feet to 378, which is still quite a poke.

Batter's Eye: The area of green behind the center field fence, has a unique shape that can make it difficult for hitters to track the ball off the bat. 

Wind: Patterns at T-Mobile Park can also play a role in making it difficult for hitters, as it can affect the trajectory of fly balls and the movement of pitches. The cold and damp climate of the Pacific Northwest, particularly in a ballpark near the water, can also contribute to a hitter-unfriendly environment. 

Then, there are the Houston Astros. When the Astros were a dominant team -particularly in the Western Division- in the late teens and early `20’s, their hitting stats at T-Mobile were about the same as they were in every other MLB park.

The Mariners have also had their share of premier hitters. Ichiro and Julio Rodriguez spent their Seattle careers at T-Mobile and Hall-of-Famers Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez also spent part of their later seasons at Safeco.

Those hitters were all much more than home run hitters. T-Mobile might not be a good park for home run hitters who don’t hit for high average.

Mariner fans remember a pitcher named Randy Johnson, who was traded away within a month of Safeco/T-Mobile’s opening in 1998. But from 1999 to 2002, `The Big Unit’ won four consecutive Cy Young Awards with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Last season, Chase Field, home of the D-Backs, had the highest combined ERA for pitchers. But apparently, it never bothered Johnson.

Most likely, elite hitters and elite pitchers are going to have success whether they’re playing at Yellowstone Park or a Beacon Hill Little League field. Ballpark factors can help or hurt a player but as the saying goes, `you can’t make chicken salad out of chicken whatever.’