I asked y’all in the FEED about who has impressed you so far this season and the LL hive mind did not disappoint! Thanks to everyone who weighed in. Since there were many similar answers, I’m going to start with the top three players that were named and then I’ll break it down a bit more with my Trademarked Mariners Hot Take Ranking System:
Okay let’s break it down by the numbers here.
Your third most popular response for which Mariners starter has impressed you so far is….
A two-way tie between George
Kirby and Randy Arozarena!
Two mainstays of the team that had sorta down seasons in 2025, Kirby in particular, but are now off to very positive starts in 2026. Randy is leading the team in fWAR with Kirby right behind him. Kirby is running a HR/9 rate and BABIP in line with his 2022-2024 seasons and is certainly the team’s most reliable starter at this moment given Woo’s recent volatility and Gilbert’s very bad slider issues.
Randy, occasional defensive and base running lapses aside, has quietly been very reliable at the plate. He’s walking more and striking out less than the last 2 seasons and is currently running his highest wRC+ (130) since he joined the Mariners. And occasionally he’ll make a catch like this one:
Next up, your second most popular response for which Mariners starter has impressed you so far is….
Emerson Hancock!
What a blessing our boy Emerson Hancock has been this season. With Bryce Miller out for a still undetermined amount of time, Hancock stepped into the rotation and has pitched like a dad 3 beers deep mowing down 8-year-olds in wiffleball. Just racking up K’s with movement previously thought impossible from this lad. He also got Felix’d for the first time this past Saturday on Randy Johnson number retirement night, chucking 14(!!!) K’s and getting a no-decision, which was all sorts of poetic. Hancock is truly a Mariners starting pitcher now. Welcome to the party, pal.
And now, your most popular response for which Mariners starter has impressed you so far is….
Cole Young!
I need to fill out an apology form for Yung Cole because given what I saw from him last season, I never saw this coming. Perhaps I was too quick to judge, and people smarter than me (Kate, et al) were all aboard the Cole-Train coming into the season and they were right! There have been many games this season so far where I was suddenly only looking forward to Cole Young at-bats because he was the most reliably professional and patient hitter in the lineup many nights. He doesn’t swing out of his shoes, he takes pitches, and he’s hitting for average and slugging .375, too. Delightful!
Now to highlight some other assorted takes!
Poster qrtqrt2 says: “All right. My real take: Rob Refsnyder. Initially I couldn’t warm to him. His name sounded too much like Rob Schneider who I don’t like. And Refsnyder? Sounded like someone jammed referee and John Schnider’s name together. Then he started saying nice things about the fans. And talking about the difficulties adjusting to a platoon role. And hitting home runs. And now he’s just “Ref” to me and I’m rooting for him to become another favorite son on this team on their way to a World Series win.”
Rob Schneider does suck and has never actually been funny. But our guy, Ref? By all accounts he’s a great teammate, nice person, takes the game very seriously, and knows his time in MLB is nearly up and is trying his damnedest to stay afloat. Did you see how the dugout reacted to his home run that only happened because he correctly challenged a pitch? That’s the clearest sign that Ref being an occasional contributor will produce a vibes boost of immense volumes. I rate this take an Iwakuma because there’s a lot of truth here, but he’s ultimately an underdog with an uphill battle.
Poster chicagomariner says: “Yes, Cole — hoorah, Emerson — and Randy has been a rock. But you want a scalding hot take? Julio! He has shaken off the offseason rust quicker than usual, and I predict we’ll get ¡Julio de agosto en mayo!”
Yesssss, Julio Haters are in SHAMBLES as our guy has been quietly smacking the ball all over the field and into the stands. “But what about his declining defense?!?!” Hey. Shut up. He’s still young, he’ll bounce back. A grounder through the 5-hole is unfortunate but very fixable. I rate this take as BRASH because it’ll incense every fan who thinks just because Julio has a “large” contract that he should be hitting like steroids-era McGwire and fielding like early to mid 90’s Ken Griffey, Jr.
Poster wishfuleephus says: “I was impressed by Cole Young in spring training and a believer from then. But I’d like to give some love for Jose Ferrer. After a start with some bad luck, he’s stepped up to be a reliable reliever in middle or even late innings. If Brash goes on the IL, I think it will be Ferrer who takes his place and has been played as Brash’s left-handed role counterpart already.”
This was posted before Brash went on the IL and so Ferrer has definitely seen more higher-leverage spots since then. His bad BABIP luck has unfortunately continued, but I think he will regress to his normal level of production soon. New team, no longer in the NL, no longer pitching for a team no one was watching…it’s all a big adjustment. I rate this take (sadly ironically) as BRASH because while I think Ferrer will get better results going forward, they will not be on the level of Matt Brash and honestly few pitchers are.
All right, thanks for all the participation, friends! I’ll be back with another prompt in the FEED soon. Go Mariners.
