Has Mariners’ Teoscar Hernandez finally turned a corner after slow start?

SEATTLE – Of course, Teoscar Hernandez wanted to do well, wanted to be the middle-of-the-order threat the Mariners needed early in the season.

He was trying. He was trying everything. He was even trying hard not to try so dang hard.

Nothing quite clicked for him in those first six weeks with his new team.

“Even when you don’t think you’re thinking like that, it’s in there,” Hernandez said. “You’re just trying to do too much. You’re trying to force everything. And that’s when you get into trouble.”

On May 10, he struck out three times in a loss at home to Texas. In the next game, he went 1 for 5 in a win at Detroit. His batting average dropped to .215 and his OPS dipped to .647. He was striking out at an alarming rate (34.5%) and seemed to chase every slider thrown out of the strike zone.

Not the kind of production the Mariners thought they were getting when they made Hernandez their high-profile offseason acquisition in a trade with Toronto.

“Obviously, I had success in Toronto, and I wanted to bring that here,” he said Wednesday. “It was a little hard. I was trying to impress everybody and tried to do more than I can do. It took a little time, and I understand that. I just had to keep working.”

Hernandez made some slight tweaks to his approach at the plate. He has cut down on his swing with two strikes and that, in turn, has helped him be more comfortable hitting deep in counts.

More than anything, though, he says he simply has his timing back, and that has given him more confidence to see the ball better and chase fewer pitches out of the zone.

And it is working.

From May 15 through Monday, Hernandez hit .290 with an .802 OPS, three home runs and 16 RBIs in 100 plate appearances. His strikeout rate dropped slightly to 28.5%, closer to his career average of 29.6%, and he even drew seven walks during that stretch – something he acknowledged has never been part of his game.

“When you have your comfort back, it’s everything,” said Hernandez, who has been particularly hot in June, with a .361 batting average and a 1.050 OPS in the first 10 games of the month.

“I finally have my timing, and I finally have been able to lay off pitches out of the strike zone, and I’m focusing on the pitches I know I can do damage with,” he said. “It’s just, try to get a good pitch. I think that’s the key: Get a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it, and wait for the results to be positive.”

Hernandez believes his best is yet to come this season, and his résumé suggests that should be true.

He has been a slow starter in the spring during his previous five full seasons in the majors, with a career .761 OPS before the All-Star break. Historically, he’ll heat up in the summer, as evidenced by his .848 OPS after the break.

“I don’t think we give Teo enough credit,” manager Scott Servais said. “Everybody says, ‘Oh, he’s been terrible,’ and this and that. Go see what he’s done from May 1. It’s pretty good. And this is a guy who has a track record of being a slow starter. … He’s a veteran player. He doesn’t panic. He knows he has to keep grinding and make some adjustments, and that’s what we’ve seen.”

Murfee out ‘for a while’

Mariners right-handed reliever Penn Murfee, placed on the injured list Monday for the second time this season, is seeking a second medical opinion on his pitching elbow.

Murfee initially landed on the IL on May 6 with elbow inflammation. He was activated last week and made one appearance (pitching a scoreless inning against the Angels on Sunday) before the discomfort resurfaced.

Servais did not have a timeline for Murfee’s recovery beyond revealing Murfee would be out “for a while.”