The Mariners announced Tuesday that they’ve optioned center fielder Mallex Smith to Triple-A Tacoma and recalled outfielder Braden Bishop in his place.
Certainly, that’s not the outcome Seattle hoped for when reacquiring Smith from the Rays as part of the offseason’s Mike Zunino swap. Smith, fresh off a .296/.367/.406 performance and controlled for another four years, was viewed as the hopeful center fielder of the future for the Mariners. That may very well be the case, but it had become increasingly difficult for the organization to look past the fleet-footed 25-year-old’s early struggles in 2019.
Smith has taken 110 plate appearances with the Mariners this year but managed only a .165/.255/.247 batting line in that time. His strikeout rate has skyrocketed from just 18 percent in 2018 to 30 percent in 2019, while his line-drive rate has fallen by nearly 10 percent as well. The drop in liners and hard-hit balls notwithstanding, Smith’s .234 average on balls in play still seems like it should bounce back, particularly given his considerable speed, but the contact issues he’s experiencing are something he’ll try to remedy in a lower-pressure environment in Tacoma.
From a service time perspective, the injury to Smith isn’t likely to change his trajectory. He entered the season with two years, 125 days of MLB service time already under his belt, meaning he need only acquire 47 days of service in 2019 to surpass the three-year mark and remain on track for free agency following the 2022 season. Smith has already acquired nearly that much service time, so he’s essentially a lock to reach three years of service time if he returns to the Majors at any point in 2019 (which seems quite likely). He’ll be arbitration-eligible in each of the next three offseasons.
With Smith in the minors for now, the Mariners can rely on Bishop in center field or slider Mitch Haniger from right field to center. In the latter scenario, Domingo Santana and Jay Bruce could man the outfield corners, with Daniel Vogelbach and Edwin Encarnacion working at first base and at designated hitter.
um, wow
Wow what? He’s been atrocious.
surprising, but nice to see bishop get a chance nonetheless.
What the heck is surprising about this? He has errors up the ying yang, most notably giving up a home run, or rather creating a home run from an outfield pop up against San Diego. His hitting has been trash. Why wouldn’t they send him down and bring up someone who’s hitting way better in triple A?
That was beautiful btw. It’s was like an ally op
Smith has traveled quite a bit after the padres traded him
Seemed like everyone was lauding the move when it was made, but I looked a little deeper and wondered what the hell the Mariners were looking at in Mallex Smith.
Decided to look at his splits (first thing I usually look at) and the one that really stood out was his home/away splits. Now, I totally get that players usually hit better at home. He was ridiculous at home last year at Tropicana.
.347/.415/.471 line in Tampa Bay, .244/.317/.340 everywhere else. That’s a 100 point difference in his BA and OBP and a 130 point difference in his slugging. That’s actually kind of insane.
Thanks for the info!
That is very odd…..
Yes, very odd. I always thought of Tropicana as more of a pitchers park anyways.
The slugging is the oddest part of it. Makes me think his line drive swing benefited a lot from the artificial turf.
But hitting .244 is still far better than what he’s doing now
Smith is mind-numbingly awful. His defense in particular.
It’s no mystery why so many teams have dumped him.
He’s brutal.
Stealing first base remains the most difficult thing for a hitter to do.
Dude misses playing in his hometown. Probably hates Seattle.
“From a service time perspective, the injury to Smith isn’t likely to change his trajectory. “
What injury?
The one that put “Bishop in center field or slider Haniger to center. That slider was particularly nasty. Missed Haniger and hit Smith who was out of the dugout and watching s real hitter.
Just having fun Steve I make many mistakes too. Appreciate your writing.
His forearm before spring training, which caused him to miss the Japan series.
He had a right arm problem prior to spring training that carried thru….
The Rays were smart as usual. They have great timing for selling high. Sousa.. Longo…..Archer…etc.
Yep zunino is really lighting the world on fire down there lol
Zunino has been great with the Rays pitching, he catches loads of dudes stealing, and hasn’t hit half bad. Getting Zunino has a lot to do with the Rays success this year.
Ahhh yes, what us mariner’s fans always said first when anyone came at Zunino. Haha I didn’t think it would happen so quick. One guys defense can only get you so far.
it’s a small sample size and the results haven’t been there yet but Zunino has increased his hard contact rate 7% and dropped his K rate down to a palatable (for him) 25%. He ought to see better results moving forward. With his D behind the plate he doesn’t need to hit much.
Then I’m glad that guy is my C.
Zunino wasn’t their target player. Guillermo Heredia and Michael Plassmeyer was.
Zunino was 100% the target
Jake Bauers for Yandy Diaz… wow
It’s been a long time since the Rays lost a trade lol. They look like masterminds, Pham, Zunino, Diaz, Adames, Wendle, Choi, Glasnow, Meadows all stolen for penny’s on the dollar. Anyone saying the Rays didn’t know what they were doing when trading mallex should never comment on baseball again lol.
Don’t sleep on Jake Fraley.
They traded the best player in franchise history who had a bit of control for Adames. They didn’t really acquire him for pennies on the dollar.
There was 0% chance he was re signing here and the Rays weren’t in a place to compete anyways and acquired a kid who looks like he’s gonna be pretty darn good, off to a rough start but outlying stats don’t lie.
What are you talking about, they lie all the time. We just try and find the complete picture using all the stats. They are not some guarantee of success or failure though
A’s haven’t lost on Wendle yet. Jonah Heim is slashing .298/.369/.439 after a solid season at the plate last year, and he’s the heir apparent to the back up position behind one of the best catching prospects in baseball in Sean Murphy.
That’ll likely end up as an even trade when all is said and done.
I don’t think that’s true. Heim is currently off to a nice start but it’s early and he’s never had a good offensive season before. He’s also a bit old for the level he’s currently at. Pretty safe to say the Rays are going to win that trade pretty easily.
Heim hit .292/.353/.433 in High A before his promotion to Double A, and his second cup of coffee in Double A is in line with what he is doing in his second cup of coffee at the High A level. Not to mention the Texas League is a pitcher’s league.
Also, Wendle had one good season with the Rays last year and is looking to have an injury riddled campaign this season. To say, “the Rays won this trade,” when Wendle hasn’t actually netted them anything is ignorant.
Again, he was old for that level and is now a little old for his current one. Wendle probably put up more WAR last year than Heim will in his career. And injury riddled? Seriously? Because of a hit by pitch? Very curious to see why you think Heim will end up providing the same worth as Wendle. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a report about him until he was traded and haven’t heard anything since.
Wendle should’ve been the rookie of the year last year, so when Heim wins the ROY then it’ll be equal
I think you mean Wendle should’ve ended up exactly where he was last year… no way he was better than Ohtani
You can’t argue with a guy whose name is athleticnchill about the A’s obviously. That is laughable to consider what former O’s prospect Jonah Heim is doing in AA will be enough to even out the Wendle trade. That is a massive reach. The likely outcome is that you lost that trade. That’s not debatable. It isn’t a 100% guarantee of a loss but it sure as hell isn’t a “probably even.”
I was just thinking the same thing, kc38. GM’s around the league be wary when dealing with the Rays. Take another long look at players they are targeting..
Mallex Smith wasn’t bad last season and h was expected to improve this season and not slump so badly.
Didn’t they pretty much trade Souza for Trey Turner?
Archer wasn’t even good when pirates traded for him.
Huntington is just a joke who gets his arm twisted by every other gm
The Plan: trade Cole for nothing.. give up everything for Archer in same season
Another MLBTR staple analytic overdose point…
(Paraphrasing so to speak) “”…his advanced stats stink but even more advanced stats suggest he will bounce back soon. Bad luck.””
Come on!!! BABIP stinks and is the most overrated, overused “metric” ever imagined.
Smith is not seeing the ball. Maybe his GF or wife or partner left him in ST. Maybe he has college loans. Maybe there isn’t a statistical answer for everything.
Law of averages (fallacious) suggests his previous results and current results will balance. If not, then whatever he had that can’t be reproduced was nothing more than a hot streak. He doesn’t have enough mlb abs to believe balls in play did him in.
He has a 1000Pa’s. So he does have a sample size. He’s a slap hitter so he ought to carry a higher BABIP than your average player. That’s not at all what this analysis is saying. It’s saying he’s had some misfortune in that regard but he’s also jacked his K Rate up to 30% which is a huge issue. As the article states. Smith’s absolute ceiling was the guy he was last year. Everyone should’ve known that. He’s also better than the guy he is now
College loans? He’s making 500,000 a year!
“I don’t understand how to use *stat*” doesn’t mean it is over rated or over used.
welcome back Braden
Mallex will come back and swing it. Mariners have alot of stock to rotate anyways. I’m not throwing in the towel on the season. Just gotta push through