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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

M’s theme: Throw strikes, hit strikes

Kirby Arnold Everett Herald

PEORIA, Ariz. – The Seattle Mariners grounded into 154 double plays last year, most in the major leagues.

“And it seemed like we hit into a hundred of them when we had runners on first and third,” manager John McLaren said.

That’s an exaggeration, of course, unless you count the number of off-season nightmares McLaren had about the Mariners’ lost opportunities in 2007.

The M’s had the second-highest batting average in the American League, .287, but also drew fewer walks, 389, than any team in the league and grounded into more double plays than anyone.

The free-swinging Mariners rarely worked the count to put themselves in position to make the most of all the runners they had on base. That will be a point of emphasis when McLaren and his coaching staff get their hands on the players at spring training.

Pitchers and catchers begin workouts on Thursday, and position players join them Feb. 20.

“Our hitters have got to know that when the count is in their favor, it’s got to be their type of pitch to hit. You don’t have to swing at it,” McLaren said. “That’s the one thing we really need to improve on.”

The big question that will be asked over the next six weeks is, “How?”

Baseball players can be stubborn in altering their tendencies, especially hitters like Adrian Beltre, Yuniesky Betancourt, Jose Lopez and Kenji Johjima who have never been bashful about lunging at the first hittable pitch they see.

“We need to have a good plan in how we present this to the players,” McLaren said. “We are such an aggressive hitting ballclub, we do things against the book a little bit. When the count’s in our favor, we don’t do anything with it. We don’t get bases on balls and, for me, that doesn’t put enough pressure on the opposing pitcher. Swing at a bad pitch and let him off the hook, then all of a sudden he gets into his rhythm. From a hitting standpoint, we need better pitches to hit.

“Without sacrificing any aggressiveness, I’d like for us to be more selective. I think it can be done.”

That’s one reason longtime hitting coach Lee Elia has joined McLaren’s staff as an on-field consultant. He and hitting coach Jeff Pentland will spend much of their time at spring training emphasizing patience at the plate, including more 1-on-1 work with the hitters.

“We’re going to use some different approaches and see if we can reach these guys in a different way,” McLaren said. “When it’s your strength and your weakness, there’s a challenge. But as coaches, we’ve got to have a better game plan, a way to focus on certain guys and get them to think a little differently.

“We’re not sitting there giving them the take sign, but when they’ve got a two-ball, one-strike count, we want them to think, ‘Where do I want the ball?’ instead of ‘See ball, hit ball.’ “

McLaren and his coaching staff – Pentland, Elia, bench coach Jim Riggleman, third-base coach Sam Perlozzo, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre and bullpen coach Norm Charlton – will meet in Peoria this week to finalize their spring training plans. It’ll be a continuation of the meetings they had earlier this winter in Seattle after McLaren assembled this staff, which is all new except for Pentland.

“We’ve got a great roadmap for spring training,” McLaren said. “We’re going to try to have a lot more 1-on-1s with some players. That’s what I really like, working individually with a player or having a guy like Jay Buhner on a back field working with a couple of our young outfielders.

“On the offensive end, we want to stress going from first to third and we want to steal more bases. We want the pitchers to pitch inside more. We gave up way too many 0-2 hits last year.”

McLaren says the theme to spring training this year is “Throw strikes, hit strikes.” He’ll be quick to remind the players of one thing as they perform the drills, side work and extra hitting that make up the bulk of their spring training work: Beat the defending champion Los Angeles Angels in the A.L. West.

“I left them last year with the thought that the Angels are the team we need to catch,” McLaren said. “I told them, ‘When you’re in the weight room, think about the teams in our division. Then when you’re really tired, think about the Angels to really push yourself.’

“I’m not telling them anything they don’t already know. But for us to get where we want to go, we know we have to go through the Angels. It’s very simple.”