Polanco’s adjustments continue to bear fruit for Seattle.
I have a favorite swing.
In a sport abundant with ways to succeed, there are many I adore, but one style speaks to my soul. It is a shallow scoop, the type you’d take with a spoon to the top of a pint of ice cream you’d like plausible deniability to claiming you’d never snacked on. Difficult in mint chocolate chip or cookie dough, but decently defensible with espresso or vanilla bean. It is a lightning bolt, Zeus manifest, on a light upward trajectory through the zone at pace. It is Giancarlo Stanton. It is Luke Adams. And in 2025, it is Jorge Polanco.
This morning, Davy Andrews at FanGraphs wrote up Jorge Polanco, noting that Polo’s success was in part at least due to being platooned, avoiding the challenge of hitting right-handed. While that does benefit the M’s unintended designated hitter, Andrews also highlighted how Polo has gone concise on his swing. His stance has closed up, his hands load more directly backwards instead of overcoiling. When asked postgame about his adjustments, Polanco was thoughtful but pragmatic, noting his approach is just to reach the ball in the middle of the plate and drive it right back there. Not for the first time, it is the Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez whose manner of communicating shines through from 2024 through to this spring’s success:
“It’s been from last season when Edgar got here, he preaches that approach. Everybody here knows who Edgar was, so we just listen to him and work on that. So I took that to the offseason and kept working on that.”
So when Jorge Polanco came up in the bottom of the 2nd inning, think of Edgar. Think of Edgar after Seattle loaded the bases in the first on a single by Julio Rodríguez and walks by Polo and Cal Raleigh, albeit for a NOBLETIGER. Think of it when you saw Polanco battle to a 3-2 count again in that second frame, getting 95 on the black of the outer half and turning on the pitch with a swing that reminds me why sometimes we say hitters “swat” the baseball.
That 3-0 lead wouldn’t be quite enough, sadly. It wasn’t Bryce Miller’s tidiest night on the hill, and despite an extra night of rest it proved another aggravating evening for our favorite Texan tosser. You’d be forgiven for naming me picky, in a game Miller ground through five scoreless frames with five walks and six punchouts. No argument will come from me he earned the victory, both by spirit and letter of the law. But Bryce ground himself beneath the rocky Brazos.
“Pretty frustrating outing. Been a frustrating start to the season for me. I’ve had a majority of my starts where I haven’t felt great, and then today I was feeling good and my back locked up on me pregame. It’s just been one thing after another that hasn’t been major but just been nagging. Once I get to feeling good, I’ll be happy. But definitely frustrating. Today’s one of those days where I expect myself to at least get through seven and give the bullpen a chance and I wasn’t able to do that. So yeah, frustrating. I’m happy I got through five without any damage, but that’s still not who I am out there, that’s not how I pitch. And yeah, that’s just frustrating.”
His inefficiency wasn’t scuttling for Seattle, but Miller’s self-critique has some merit. His outing lacked all jazz, playing notes in every sector in and around the strike zone, and fortuitously eluding consequences by his own skill and the inept shallowness of his opponent. The Anaheim Angels are flagging frighteningly following their fearsome first few matchups, and Miller expected himself, perhaps unfairly, to take on some additional responsibility in the absence of Logan Gilbert and George Kirby. Instead, as Miller stewed postgame, “I felt pretty bad today. Like overall everything felt horrible.”
And yet, five horrible, scoreless, no good, very inefficient innings still put Seattle in position to win, particularly with a rested ‘pen that benefits from an off day yesterday and impending Thursday. That heavily-leaned-on unit was shakier this evening, but bent in lieu of breaking, allowing a solo shot to Logan O’Hoppe and a few corner shot doubles that even Ben Williamson couldn’t nab at full dive. So be it, three runs, enough to outpace an opponent surely?
Surely. Because yet again Seattle ground out plate appearances, they put 13 people on base, they walked six times and merely struck out an even number. They created opportunities to score repeatedly enough that the first inning’s squandering did not feel like the floundering wastefulness of a club which would never know prosperity again. That meant running Halos starter Jack Kochanowicz after six frames of labored ball, with aggressive approaches early that adapted into savvy takes. It meant adding on against rookie reliever Jose Fermin when the opportunity arose, and arise all 18,247 did on a school night for Jorge Polanco once more.
The Fates approve, Polo.
ROOT
This game sparked a discussion, courtesy of late night Zach Mason posing a point regarding this ballclub. Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh are players both capable of individually carrying the Mariners to greatness for stretches, as we’ve seen since 2022. Randy Arozarena is such a player as well, and certain nights this year have been fertile even as his most recent swath of play has been more fallow. But a baseline fear in 2025 was that Seattle could not expect a dominant spark from its offense in any reasonable capacity beyond a random Sam Haggerty-esque run of brilliance for a week here and there from role players.
At this point, Polanco has carried Seattle at every healthy moment of the season. He may not be their best hitter all year, but he’s made it possible for them to shine and sustain through highs and lows from Raleigh, and a more decent-than-deified season opening from Julio. It’s given the M’s the chance to put Andrés Muñoz in save situation after save situation, like the latest he locked down this evening. It’s taken the heat off Miller and the other starters for their more labored opening month. It’s meant that with a 5-3 victory tonight the Seattle Mariners are still in first place because they deserve it, not just because other clubs don’t.