Mariners' all-time waste of pitching prowess, plus Verlander’s legendary college days

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Justin Verlander, this is your life. Also, Ken on the Mariners’ collapse, a messy Mets play, and: How many ways can Bobby Witt Jr. make history this year? I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!

Throwbacks: Verlander’s legendary college days

I can’t imagine many of us in our 40s would be thrilled to learn that our college roommates had told a national media outlet all our stories from the old days. But honestly, I think this inside look at Justin Verlander’s days at Old Dominion made the future Hall of Famer a little more likable.

With Verlander set to return from the IL today against the Red Sox, Chandler Rome did the behind-the-scenes work to talk to those who knew the 19-year pro back when he was just an up-and-coming freshman in Norfolk, Va.

Some of the stories are, of course, baseball-related. The kid with the B-R-N-G-N-I-T (“Bringin’ it”) license plate on his car showed big-league confidence from day one, but also brought a friendly personality that led his first college pitching coach to give this quote: “He had the ability to be likable while he was kicking your ass, if that makes any sense.”

After rebuffing the Pirates’ $500,000 offer out of high school, Verlander went to a program that wasn’t exactly the most lauded in the collegiate ranks. But it was there when he learned just how good he could be. The Tigers agreed, selecting him with the second pick of the 2004 draft.

But there are stories that are less baseball-related — just classic college stories. This is the one that made me laugh the most:

Verlander mastered a Waldo costume that earned acclaim at campus Halloween parties. He became known for riding his bike around campus for hours. Once, after a night of indulgence by Verlander, (a classmate) saw a police officer threaten him with a charge of biking while intoxicated.

To avoid it, Verlander straddled the bicycle and walked it back to the dormitory. He picked leaves off trees along the way, telling teammates, “look, I’m a giraffe.”

Sorry, Justin. But it is really funny.

Ken’s Notebook: Seattle’s search for offense

What we are witnessing is an all-time waste of a dominant pitching staff. The Seattle Mariners lead the majors in rotation ERA and rank near the bottom in runs per game. Since June 18, they’ve turned a 10-game lead in the AL West into a five-game deficit. A fourth straight winning season is in jeopardy, with their record now 64-63.

All is not lost, not with 35 games remaining. But after a 10-5 surge highlighted by the deadline additions of left fielder Randy Arozarena, first baseman/DH Justin Turner and relievers Yimi Garcia and JT Chargois, the Mariners again have turned offensively inept. They blew a 3-0 lead in a 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night, making it seven losses in their last eight games.

Jerry Dipoto, the Mariners’ president of baseball operations, sounds flummoxed.

“Coming into the season, we all thought this was the most talented group that we’ve had,” said Dipoto, who became the Mariners’ head of baseball operations in September 2015. “We’re looking at everything. There is no stone unturned. We’ve talked about getting back to grassroots with what our hitting philosophy is and what we are about, the way we message it to our players. Or, are we over-complicating it with the information we provide and the strategies we employ?

“I can say this: Me, our coaches, our staff, none of us is blameless. We have really struggled to play offense this year. And it’s not just on our players for not doing that. That would be a cop-out.”

Asked if he felt responsible, Dipoto said, “Very. Ultimately the dirt roads lead back to putting the roster together, and that’s me. I don’t want to minimize the contributions of (general manager) Justin (Hollander), our scouts. But ultimately the responsibility is mine.”

Might the team benefit from hearing a new voice in place of Scott Servais, who has been the Mariners’ manager since 2016?

“It definitely has to be a consideration for us, to talk through everything. That’s just reality,” Dipoto said. “We’ve under-performed and there is some discussion for each of us to have about the part we have played in coming up as short as we have to this point.

“I say that, but until a week ago we were in first place or a game within (it) for roughly the last 120 days. I don’t know that the season could have gone much better considering how inconsistent our offense has been. I don’t want to act like this has been an unmitigated disaster. But we have very much underperformed our own expectations, based on our talent.”

Investigations: Could Witt hit .400 (at home)?

We’ve written quite a bit in this space about Bobby Witt Jr.’s remarkable season. How could we not? He’s on pace to become the first shortstop to surpass 11 fWAR in 116 years (Honus Wagner, 11.8 in 1908).

The latest: While a .400 season is almost mathematically impossible — Witt is hitting .353 after last night’s 3-for-5 performance in a 9-5 loss to the Angels — it is possible he could become the first player to hit .400 at home since Barry Bonds in 2004. After last night, the 24-year-old is hitting .401 at Kauffman Stadium this year.

But this story by C. Trent Rosecrans, Stephen J. Nesbitt and Sam Blum is extra cool, because they went back and talked to a few of the nine players who have accomplished the feat since 1959, including Wade Boggs and Rod Carew.

It should be noted: Of those nine, four were members of the Colorado Rockies who played in Coors Field before the humidor was introduced. But even with their inclusion, here are some things that have been done more (or as) often since 1959:

Pitchers who have thrown multiple no-hitters (19 pitchers)
Being hit by more than 20 pitches in a season (18 players)
Winning the pitching triple crown (11 pitchers)
Hitting four home runs in one game (10 players)
Driving in 10 RBIs in one game (nine players)

(Coming up just short: unassisted triple plays — there have been eight since 1959.)

Another fun note: Only one player in the last 75 years has hit .400 on the road. That would be Ichiro, who also did it 20 years ago, hitting .405 on the road in 2004. (He hit .338 at home.)

Tough Scenes: The Mets!

What was it I said yesterday about the Mets’ walk-off win over the Orioles? “Past performance is no guarantee of future results”?

Well, last night featured a play that was so bad, it required a whole writeup by Tim Britton. The condensed version:

Brandon Nimmo can’t quite wrangle a popup in shallow left field.
Throw home is wide (run scores) and backed up by the pitcher, Danny Young, who throws to third base.
Throw to third is wild, going into left field.
(Second) throw home is wide (run scores), and catcher Francisco Alvarez picks it, immediately throwing back to third base.
Gunnar Henderson is safe at third.

Here’s a tweet with the video, but here’s the thing: You’ll have to watch it with the sound on, because amidst the chaotic maelstrom even the camera operators made errors. Neither throw to third happens on camera.

Anyway, the Mets lost 9-5, but I need to stick up for Nimmo for a minute. He had a very unlucky night! Not only did he get a very good jump on that ball, allowing him to even be close enough to attempt a sliding catch, but earlier in the game, there was another good play with bad results. Look at this catch!

New York Mess pic.twitter.com/Uv0ODUxMTP

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 21, 2024

At least, it was originally called a catch. Alas, upon replay, it was determined that between tips number two and three (out of four), the ball touched the wall. It was a triple.

All of this one night after Nimmo hurt his shoulder, requiring an MRI (it came back clean). Baseball is cruel sometimes.

Handshakes and High Fives

Two big matchups: The Padres beat the Twins 7-5, and Philadelphia fumbled a chance to kick Atlanta while they were down — the Braves won 3-1 in Reynaldo López’s return.

Brett Gardner is the most notable absence from the Yankees’ celebration of the 2009 champions. A team spokesman says Gardner hasn’t responded to team messages since he last played in 2021. Aaron Judge’s center-field acknowledgement feels a little more poignant now, doesn’t it?

Javier Báez will always be a Cubs legend, but there was no magic in his return to Wrigley. Meanwhile, the Cubs have parted ways with reliever Héctor Neris. Here’s what that says about their strategy.

The Astros are creating some space in the AL West. Now if they ever get this outfield problem sorted …

Speaking of NL Central teams releasing players: The Cardinals have cut ties with Brandon Crawford.

Padres infielder Ha-Seong Kim has hit the IL for the first time in his MLB career (it should be a short stay).

Most-clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: Our latest Power Rankings, where the writers identified a player on each team who’s having a sneaky-good season.