Mariners Spring Training - 2023...

[Sports Hernia]

Murph, Kelenic, Pollack all with hits today. Kelenic another bomb. Wong hasn't really looked like an upgrade over Frazier...

Let’s hope JK carries this over to the regular season.
The encouraging part is a lot of his hits and home runs are up the middle and the opposite way. He needs to keep that mentality.

 

[Ruminator]

Encouraging!

 

[sutz]

Not too worried about Wong. Vets are often working on something in Spring training that makes them look weak. Besides, we're only a week in. If you're thinking about his defense, Perry will have him in shape by April.

 

[seatownlowdown]

i haven't been following spring training. is this the year JK makes a leap? any predictions?

 

[DJrmb]

i haven't been following spring training. is this the year JK makes a leap? any predictions?

He's certainly looking good so far. It's just spring training though so it's really hard to draw any real conclusions. But...

I like that this offseason he actually went to a real professional hitting trainer and worked on his swing. In the past he always trusted and trained at his dad's facility in the offseason. Sometimes you just need that outside eye, or fresh eyes.

It also seems like the exact things he claims he worked on are manifesting this spring in the games. He said they worked on keeping his swing in the zone longer so that he didn't have to square everything up so perfect and he could still get to balls he was a little late on. He's hit 4 home runs so far and none of them were the foul pole scraping hard pull HR's he's hit in the past. He's hitting balls up the middle and to the opposite field much better in general, and not falling into the trap of try to pull everything. One of his HR's was off a lefty which is encouraging as well.

Probably the biggest improvement he's made though is his maturity. He seems to have improved in that area by leaps and bounds, which was the biggest factor in his mental struggles in my opinion. The kid simply needed to be humbled and he got a big portion of that pie last season. We'll have to see if that's real though and not just him saying what he knows he should say without really being humbled...

He's so talented, I really think it's just a matter of time before it all finally clicks for him. If he can stay out of his own head it very well could be this year. I'm cautiously optimistic on JK at this point where before spring training I was ready to sell low and move on from him. *fingers crossed*

 

[seatownlowdown]

He's certainly looking good so far. It's just spring training though so it's really hard to draw any real conclusions. But...

I like that this offseason he actually went to a real professional hitting trainer and worked on his swing. In the past he always trusted and trained at his dad's facility in the offseason. Sometimes you just need that outside eye, or fresh eyes.

It also seems like the exact things he claims he worked on are manifesting this spring in the games. He said they worked on keeping his swing in the zone longer so that he didn't have to square everything up so perfect and he could still get to balls he was a little late on. He's hit 4 home runs so far and none of them were the foul pole scraping hard pull HR's he's hit in the past. He's hitting balls up the middle and to the opposite field much better in general, and not falling into the trap of try to pull everything. One of his HR's was off a lefty which is encouraging as well.

Probably the biggest improvement he's made though is his maturity. He seems to have improved in that area by leaps and bounds, which was the biggest factor in his mental struggles in my opinion. The kid simply needed to be humbled and he got a big portion of that pie last season. We'll have to see if that's real though and not just him saying what he knows he should say without really being humbled...

He's so talented, I really think it's just a matter of time before it all finally clicks for him. If he can stay out of his own head it very well could be this year. I'm cautiously optimistic on JK at this point where before spring training I was ready to sell low and move on from him. *fingers crossed*

nice writeup. thanks for that.

 

[Crizilla]

Kelenic and Calhoun are staying hot. Sizzling.

 

[sutz]

Kelenic and Calhoun are staying hot. Sizzling.

Murphy, too. Nice to have him back and know we have a solid catcher group.

 

[sutz]

Luis Castillo gave up a 2 run dinger in the first, but other than that has been cruising.

Still no scoring, but a lot of our best guys are out at the WBC.

 

[sutz]

M's breaking out in the bottom of the 3rd. 1 run in, men on 2d and 3d with no outs. Murphy at the dish.

 

[DJrmb]

Luis Castillo gave up a 2 run dinger in the first, but other than that has been cruising.

Still no scoring, but a lot of our best guys are out at the WBC.

How's his velo? He was only hitting 92-93mph in his first start. They said he was a slow starter but man that seems like a lot!

 

[sutz]

I don't think his velo is up yet. Maybe a notch, but he's working his changup this spring, so I give him some room. He'll be fine when it starts counting. They haven't been showing the pitch velo much this spring.

M's tie it up in the 3rd. Looks like Castillo is back on the hill top 4. Stretching him out.

 

[Crizilla]

The offense is so hot right now

 

[balakoth]

Man JK is really heating up, lets hope this translates... this could actually be a potent offense. Ray with 6 ks in 3 innings of work...

 

[Crizilla]

I just realized we got this Cooper Hummel dude from the Kyle Lewis trade with ARZ.

 

[Bobblehead]

Just read where Kelenic has come out with a different mindset on pitches.. Instead of trying to predict what the pitcher is throwing, he says he's just concentrating on the pitch at hand, what ever it maybe. Which is good, I play a lot of tennis and I have tried to predict what the opponent is going to serve and its always a fail, learned early just to play the serve, what ever it is. works a helluva lot better. Hopefully this will, translate to Big league level pitching when the time comes.

 

[Sports Hernia]

Just read where Kelenic has come out with a different mindset on pitches.. Instead of trying to predict what the pitcher is throwing, he says he's just concentrating on the pitch at hand, what ever it maybe. Which is good, I play a lot of tennis and I have tried to predict what the opponent is going to serve and its always a fail, learned early just to play the serve, what ever it is. works a helluva lot better. Hopefully this will, translate to Big league level pitching when the time comes.

I know it’s a small sample size but he looks like a different hitter. His stance is more closed and he looks quicker to the ball.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Most of his issues are mental. If he just plays ball, he's going to be pretty damn good. You can see the talent. And he's a damn good outfielder too.

 

[Ruminator]

Haven't seen any games yet. Can't wait!

 

[DJrmb]