{"id":74537,"date":"2024-05-29T10:00:40","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T14:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=74537"},"modified":"2024-05-29T01:10:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T05:10:24","slug":"andres-munoz-invaluable-mariners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/29\/andres-munoz-invaluable-mariners\/","title":{"rendered":"Mariners Closer Proving Invaluable to Their 2024 Hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Relief pitchers are often overlooked as key parts of a winning baseball equation. They are seen as hired guns and necessary evils, commonly remembered for the game they cost their team rather than the many times they did their job. In Seattle, where the ballpark clearly favors pitching, few have stood out more than Andres Mu\u00f1oz<\/a> since Safeco Field, now T-Mobile Park opened in 1999. Sure, the first pitcher most of us think of is F\u00e9lix Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>, and rightfully so. The 2024 Mariners pitching staff features a starting rotation that has a quintuplet of hard-throwing right-handers. They have garnered most of the attention and have produced on par with their lofty potential. Still, the most dominant pitcher on this Mariners team has not been a starter. It has been Andres Mu\u00f1oz<\/a>, who is clearly one of the best relief pitchers in MLB and proving to be an invaluable piece in Seattle.<\/p>\n

Andres Mu\u00f1oz Proving Invaluable for Mariners<\/h2>\n

Pitching is at a Premium<\/h3>\n

The Seattle Mariners aren’t a team that is going to put up ten runs on a nightly basis. The offense, which has been heavily criticized, at its best is probably a middle-of-the-road group whose strength on paper should be consistency. We haven’t seen much consistency to this point, and they’ve led all MLB teams in strikeouts. However, they have been putting up average offense, with a team 96 WRC+. The thought is if they can just go out and be an average offense on a consistent basis, the pitching will take care of the rest. So far that has worked at times. The Mariners have a 30-26 record which is good enough for first place in the AL West.<\/p>\n

The starters put together a run of 21 consecutive games allowing two or fewer runs, tying the second longest such streak in MLB history. So, they’ve done their part and then some. Meanwhile, the Mariners bullpen has been a bit of an adventure other than when it turns to the steady Mu\u00f1oz.<\/p>\n

Senior Smoke<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When analyzing any modern-day pitcher, we like to check their velocity first. “How hard does he throw?” has become the measuring stick we all reach for when comparing pitchers in this era. Andres does not disappoint. He recently touched 101mph in a battle with Aaron Judge<\/a> at Yankee Stadium that ended in a strikeout. That is just what Mu\u00f1oz, aka “Senior Smoke,” does. When asked about his arm strength in a 2022 interview with Seattle Sports’ Shannon Drayer<\/a>, he shared “I always was the kind of guy that threw hard. When I was 15, I threw 94.” So we can check that box with Andres Mu\u00f1oz. He threw harder at 15 than some of his bullpen mates throw now.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Mu\u00f1oz put together a season most relief pitchers can only dream of. He appeared in 64 games, pitching 65 innings with a 2.49 ERA, 96 strikeouts, and only 15 walks. He was a two-pitch guy that year, throwing his four-seam fastball 35 percent of the time and his wipeout slider a whopping 64% of the time. In the 2023 offseason, Andres added a two-seam sinker whose average velocity is roughly 99mph. This season he’s thrown that pitch 25 percent of the time and it’s really given him a way to, dare we say it, pitch to contact at 99.<\/p>\n

“Give Me Mu\u00f1oz!”<\/b><\/h3>\n
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?Give me Mu\u00f1oz? pic.twitter.com\/LIGAzMGJsg<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 britt (@brittanyanne08_) May 28, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n