What Has Been Behind Jorge Polanco's Cold Stretch For Seattle Mariners?
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Jorge Polanco enters play on Tuesday night in the midst of a dreadful May for the Seattle Mariners. After looking like an MVP candidate in March and April, Polanco is hitting just .155 in May with one homer and five RBIs in 19 games. He's also posted just a .234 on-base percentage.
¡Abran paso, por ahí va el jonronazo de Jorge Polanco!☄️ pic.twitter.com/KOaSuzMdoJ
— MLB Español (@mlbespanol) May 13, 2025
So what's going on? There are a few things to note:
It's baseball, and a small sample size
Look, "small sample size" is a somewhat annoying phrase because it seems like it gets thrown out all too often, but it just might apply here. Just like Polanco wasn't going to hit the .384 he did in March and April forever, he's not going to hit .155 forever, either. Baseball is a game of streaks, and Polanco has been at two extremes. At some point, you'd expect him to level off into a mid-level, and that mid-level player can still be really valuable for the Mariners.
He's seeing more offspeed pitches
The league saw Polanco demolish everything in March and April, so they decided to try something different in May. Let's look at how Polanco has been pitched thus far. The data comes from Baseball Savant.
Month | Fastball Percentage | Breaking Ball % | Other offspeed % |
|---|---|---|---|
March-April | 47.9 | 33 | 19.1 |
May | 39.0 | 37.2 | 23.8 |
Again "small sample size," but you can see that Polanco is clearly getting less fastballs and more offspeed pitches. If it makes you feel better, his expected batting average is higher on each offering than he's actually seeing, so he's clearly been a victim of some bad luck that should also normalize. However, Polanco has to continue to make adjustments.
Perhaps those adjustments are just not missing the fastball when it's thrown to him, and perhaps they are continuing to do damage early in counts so as to avoid getting to offspeed counts. He also needs to be disciplined at the plate and not chase pitches that give pitchers control of the at-bat.
He's injured and out of rhythm
Polanco has battled an oblique issue most of the season that has limited him to only hitting left-handed. Injury could be part of his problems, and being out of his usual routine as a result of injury could be part of it as well.
The Mariners will be back in action on Tuesday night against the Washington Nationals at 6:40 p.m. PT.
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