Emerson Hancock Delivers Mixed Results in Spring Start vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Friday was a day of a lot of emotions for the Seattle Mariners, and most of them weren't good.
After being the pinnacle of health in 2024, the Mariners starting rotation took a big hit on Friday. News broke that George Kirby was out with right shoulder inflammation. The report was coupled with subsequent news that he would be week-to-week and would likely begin the season on the injured list.
Kirby's injury also meant a lot more eyes were on Seattle's No. 6 starter, Emerson Hancock, during his spring training start against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Hancock's outing started well but was a mixed bag overall. He walked lead-off batter Tommy Edman to start the game and committed a balk to move Edman to second. Hancock subsequently struck out Michael Conforto, Teoscar Hernandez and Enrique Hernandez consecutively to leave Edman stranded at second.
The Dodgers' lineup started to see Hancock's arsenal better in the second and third innings. After the first, Los Angeles scored three runs (all earned) against Hancock off four hits. Hancock finished the game with a final line of four strikeouts, one walk, four hits and three earned runs in 2.1 innings pitched.
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
Mariners general manger Justin Hollander said that Kirby could miss the first 10 days of the season, which would mean Hancock would start at least two regular season games.
Hancock started 12 games for Seattle in 2024 filling in for Bryan Woo and Luis Castillo. He posted a 4.75 ERA and struck out 39 batters in 60.2 innings pitched.
The glass half-full view of Hancock's start is that there is clearly another level that he hasn't reached yet, as evidenced by his first inning. And it will help alleviate the loss felt with Kirby's absence if Hancock can replicate it more often than not.
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