Edgar Martinez’s old-fashioned approach pays off as Mariners beat Cardinals

ST. LOUIS – Launch angle? Exit velocity? Barrel rate? xwOBA?

Over the last decade, modern baseball has introduced a new language and, for many, a new way to think about the game.

For one of the most accomplished hitters in Seattle Mariners history, though, the new-age analytics are about as useful as Sanskrit.

“I don’t care if you have an exit velocity of 120 (mph),” Edgar Martinez said flatly, standing just outside the batting cage before a weekend game here at Busch Stadium. “If you have the wrong swing, you’re gonna hit still for a low average.”

When he took over as the Mariners’ interim hitting coach two weeks ago, Martinez said he wanted to implement a simple plan for Seattle’s slumping hitters, whom he believed were overthinking and overanalyzing things.

The late-season philosophical shift hasn’t been perfect – did anyone really expect it to be? – but there were more encouraging results in the Mariners’ 10-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the rubber match of their series Sunday afternoon.

The Mariners (73-71) broke things open immediately in the first inning, starting the game with five straight hits and scoring five runs off Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas.

Randy Arozarena added a two-run homer in the second inning, Jorge Polanco hit a two-run homer in the fifth, and the Mariners finished with 13 hits, their fourth double-digit hit total in the past five games.

After getting shut out Saturday night – and wasting one of the best performances of Logan Gilbert’s career – the Mariners’ offense bounced back in emphatic fashion Sunday to finish off the road trip with a 5-5 record.

Mariners hitters have pointed to the relaxed and simplified approach Martinez has brought. The Mariners are 9-7 with Dan Wilson as manager, averaging 5.25 runs per game in that stretch, with improved offensive production under Martinez, who acknowledged he doesn’t pay attention to modern data.

“I mean, for me, batting average, runs scored, RBIs, on-base percentage – those are the ones I use,” Martinez said.

“The game today is so mechanical, you know,” the Hall of Fame designated hitter added. “There’s so much emphasis on mechanics that sometimes the hitters are thinking too much about mechanics when they should be focusing on the plan, on approach, and just to square the ball up, not where my hands are and all this stuff.”

As an organization, the Mariners have taken great pride in their investment and deployment of analytics over the past handful of years, and all that data has been put to good use on the pitching side, with the M’s boasting one of the best operations in MLB.

The offensive outlook, as has been well chronicled, has gotten progressively worse the past few years, ultimately costing manager Scott Servais, offensive coordinator Brant Brown and hitting coach Jarret DeHart their jobs this season.

Is Martinez’s back-to-basics plan a cure-all? That’s probably a stretch. But it does seem to be what this group of hitters needed, even if it might be a little too late to salvage this season.

Julio Rodriguez said he recently sought highlights of Martinez’s playing days with the Mariners and grew to appreciate him even more.

“I mean, he banged – he banged,” Rodriguez said with a smile. “And that’s not a secret for anybody. He was a really smart hitter … and they didn’t have all the things we have now. I feel like that took a lot from, like, the baseball side of things and made it too complicated, like numbers or this and that. Like, just go out there and play, you know?”

Rodriguez dived into second base for a leadoff double Sunday and Cal Raleigh followed with an RBI single. Arozarena singled and Luke Raley blasted a 108-mph double to drive in two to make it 3-0.

Justin Turner singled for the fifth straight hit of the inning of Mikolas. And with two outs, Mitch Garver came through with a sharp single to left field to drive in Raley and Turner to make it 5-0.

Arozarena sent a screaming line drive out to left field in the second inning – 110.3 mph off the bat – for his 19th homer of the season, and fourth with the Mariners.

Polanco, mired in a 3-for-51 slump, hit his two-run shot off veteran lefty Steven Matz in the fifth, estimated at 419 feet. It was Polanco’s 14th homer of the season and third from the right side, and it extended the lead to 9-2.

Martinez is “pretty unique,” Wilson said, in his ability to communicate simply and effectively with hitters.

“The message has been good. It’s been clear. It’s been simple,” Wilson said. “The credit goes to the hitters, because they have really taken to it and used it to their advantage.”

Luis Castillo exited the game in the fourth inning with a strained left hamstring. Trent Thornton followed with two scoreless innings and Tayler Saucedo threw two scoreless inning of relief too.