ANALYSIS: What Would a Solid Stretch From Emerson Hancock Mean For Seattle Mariners?
The health of the Seattle Mariners starting rotation was exemplary in 2024. It was the only rotation in baseball that had four pitchers start 30 or more games. The only pitcher that didn't, Bryan Woo, still took the mound 22 times.
Woo had two different stints on the injured list and Luis Castillo was placed on the IL toward the end of the year with a left hamstring strain.
That kind of health was always unlikely to repeat, and it's already being tested. George Kirby will miss at least two starts in the regular season due to right shoulder inflammation.
For the second year in a row, the Mariners No. 6 starter, Emerson Hancock, will begin the season on the 26-man roster. Last year he filled in for Woo, and this year he'll be in for Kirby.
Hancock did an admirable job last season filling in for Woo and Castillo (at the end of the year). He started 12 games and finished the year with a 4.75 ERA. He had 39 strikeouts in 60.2 innings pitched.
Hancock would be the No. 4 or No. 5 starter on most starting rotations but Seattle's embarrassment of riches on the pitching staff has created a pecking order that Hancock hasn't been able to consistently break through.
But that begs the question — what would happen if Hancock takes a step forward in 2025? Hancock has made 15 major league starts in two seasons. Last year, when Woo returned healthy, Hancock was optioned back to the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. Such is the norm for the No. 6 starter on an elite rotation.
But Hancock has looked better in spring training compared to his previous stints in the major leagues.
In Hancock's last two starts in the Cactus League on March 14 and March 19, he's pitched eight innings and has allowed a combined one earned run on 10 hits with five strikeouts. He's walked just one batter in those outings. Four of those strikeouts came in his latest start. His ERA dropped from 9.53 before those starts to 4.61 after March 19.
Emerson Hancock has put a ton of work in this offseason to improve his repertoire. In today’s outing he flashed his new FC and used his new ST multiple times. Also hit 96.2, a new high
— Kick Dirt Baseball (@KickDirtBB) March 2, 2025
The Mariners SP depth is just incredible. Hancock is a former first-rounder and still just 25 pic.twitter.com/5fVltc4G39
Hancock has been fine-tuning and refining his arsenal in the offseason and spring training. So far, his sweeper has yielded the biggest results.
Hancock isn't going to supersede Kirby or any other pitcher on the rotation. But if he does show significant improvement, it's hard to justify stowing him back in Tacoma.
It would also create several possibilities the organization could explore.
The first one, and possibly the most beneficial one to the team, is the Mariners go to a six-man rotation. This was a scenario floated out when the team was pursuing current Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki in the offseason. The decreased workload for the rotation would help mitigate future injuries.
The second possibility — the Mariners could package Hancock, or another starting pitcher, in an in-season trade. Seattle received trade inquiries about all five members of its rotation in the offseason. There was smoke about a potential deal with the Boston Red Sox involving Castillo, but nothing materialized. Other trade inquiries involved deals the front office didn't feel were worth breaking up the rotation for. If Hancock does improve, the Mariners would have six quality starters other teams could be interested in. If Seattle finds itself in the same position it was last July, having six solid-to-elite starting pitchers could help the organization find a quality bat.
The third hypothetical, and the most likely, is that he gets optioned back to the Rainiers and waits in the wings for another injury situation. If Hancock does pitch well and is still optioned back down to Triple-A, the potential for a trade still remains.
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