Seattle Mariners Starting Pitcher Emerson Hancock Refining His Arsenal in 2025
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The Seattle Mariners starting pitching rotation was the pinnacle of health in 2024. It was the only rotation in baseball that had four pitchers start 30 or more games and led the league in total innings pitched. But two Mariners starting pitchers had injuries that forced the club to go to the sixth pitcher in the rotation several times.
Bryan Woo had two separate stints on the injured list last year and Luis Castillo ended the season on the IL. In their stead, Emerson Hancock made 12 starts for Seattle and registered a 4.75 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 60.2 innings pitched.
Emerson Hancock, Nasty Changeups. 😨 pic.twitter.com/5bDnI5wsUu
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 14, 2024
Hancock was the team's emergency option and spent most of the season with the Mariners Triple-A team, the Tacoma Rainiers. Barring an unexpected injury or trade, that will be the case again in 2025.
The former Georgia pitcher is in spring training at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, Ariz. And even though he's not expected to start a large number of games in 2025, he's still been working to become a better pitcher.
Hancock appeared on the Brock & Salk show on Seattle Sports 710 on Feb. 14 and revealed he spent the offseason in his home state of Georgia trying to learn and refine several pitches: a curveball, a cutter, a sweeper and a gyro slider.
According to Baseball Savant, Hancock threw four pitches in 2024: a fastball, a changeup, a sinker and a slider. His changeup was by far his most effective pitch. He allowed just a .185 average with it and had a put-away rate of 14.4%. He allowed an average of .300 or above with his slider and sinker. If he effectively adds the aforementioned pitches to his arsenal, his pitch selection would grow to seven.
In a quote excerpted by in a Seattle Sports article written by Zac Hereth, Hancock talked about the process of developing his slider:
“I think it’s kind of different for everyone,” Hancock said. “For me, it’s just kind of like a spike grip, and the spike for me was really hard at the beginning, but now it’s gotten where it’s comfortable. And the spike actually kind of just helps it kind of get the movement downward that you need.”
Hancock has made just 15 total starts in his two major league seasons. But he manages to successfully develop and fine-tune those pitches, then he'll be a lot more effective if he's called upon in 2025.
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