Emerson Hancock's Pitching Style Could Help Seattle Mariners Against New York Yankees

SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners will have a tough test in front of them with a three-game series against the New York Yankees beginning at 6:40 p.m. PT on Monday.

The Yankees offense entered Sunday first in the majors in runs (235), home runs (70) and first in the American League in RBIs (227) and batting average (.263).

The Mariners starting rotation has struggled amid a string of injuries and inconsistencies, and had arguably its worst series of the year when the Toronto Blue Jays swept the M's on May 9-11.

It won't get easier for the pitching staff against New York. Emerson Hancock is slated to start for Seattle in Game 1 of the series Monday. He's had three consecutive quality starts and four straight starts where he hasn't allowed more than three earned runs. What Hancock excels at might be the key to taking the first game against the Bronx Bombers.

Hancock doesn't generate strikeouts at the rate of fellow Mariners starters Logan Gilbert or George Kirby. But he draws weak contact and doesn't walk batters. According to Baseball Savant, Hancock ranks in the 67th percentile of the league or better in average exit velocity, walk percentage, barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and ground ball percentage. His hard-hit rate (34.6%) ranks in the 81st percentile, his ground-ball percentage (48.7%) ranks in the 74th percentile and his average exit velocity (86.3 mph) places him in the 91st percentile.

"Often times, aggression can work in a couple different ways," Seattle manager Dan Wilson said in a pregame interview. "Emerson, with his ability to locate — if he keeps that sinker down and gets some ground balls, might have some lower pitch counts and get some early outs. This is a team (that's) aggressive, and I think can fit pretty well into Emerson's game plan."