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# Jorge Polanco’s Struggles Big Reason For Mariners’ Regressive May
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/jorge-polancos-struggles-big-reason-for-mariners-regressive-may/
- Published: 2025-05-27T22:53:36.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:59:18.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Mariners, Jorge Polanco

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For the first month and change of the 2025 season, the Mariners’ offense ranked in the top-10 of most standard statistical categories. But in the month of May, they currently sit 24th in batting average (.233), 22nd in on-base percentage (.305), 24th in slugging percentage (.374), tied-15th in wRC+ (100), 13th in walk rate (8.5 percent), 27th in strikeout percentage (23.8 percent), and 22nd in total runs scored (86).

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all reason for this regression, but Jorge Polanco’s struggles have certainly played a large role. The 31-year old had been one of baseball’s hottest hitters for the first five or so weeks of the year, at one point ranking behind only Aaron Judge in wRC+. Since then, however, he’s not only come down to Earth; he’s completely cratered.

Regression was to be expected given that Polanco was hitting well above even the most optimistic of expectations, but instead of normalizing, he has made his way from one extreme end of the spectrum to the other. Statistically, he’s been the worst of the 13 hitters Seattle currently has on its roster this month, ranking dead-last on the team in batting average (.155), on-base percentage (.234), and wRC+ (43), and second-to-last in slugging percentage (.241). That is quite the fall from the .384/.418/.808 slash line and 250 wRC+ he posted in March and April. 

Perhaps the biggest concern with Polanco, at least as far as the numbers go, is the uptick in strikeout rate from 11.3 percent in March/April to 20.3 percent in May. The league has made an adjustment to him, throwing him fewer fastballs and more breaking and offspeed pitches, and he’s so far failed to counter. 

Polanco was good against all pitch variations in March/April, slashing .375/.444/.925 versus 138 fastballs while slashing .406/.394/.688 against 149 non-fastballs. This month, however, he’s not only slashing a dreadful .107/.219/.107 against 136 combined breaking balls and offspeed pitches, but .200/.250/.367 on 87 fastballs as well. In other words: he’s completely out of sorts.

It’s hard not to wonder if these struggles can at least be partly attributed to some sort of physical ailment. In addition to his return from patellar tendon surgery this offseason, Polanco has also played through a side injury that has kept him from being able to play in the field and hit from the right side of the plate for a good chunk of the year. He was cleared to start at second base and switch-hit during the team’s series win over the Athletics in early May, but he hasn’t received another defensive nod since and has just one right-handed at-bat since May 10\. 

Curiously, Mariners manager Dan Wilson and the organization as a whole have been mum on Polanco’s status. They clearly don’t seem concerned enough to place him on the injured list, but it’s apparent that he’s either reaggravated the injury or Seattle is limiting what he can do for other reasons unknown. 

Whatever the case may be, there’s a high degree of variance for the Mariners’ offense that evidently runs through Polanco. They need him to get going again.