Dingeritis—loosely defined as an inability to keep fly balls in the yard—plagued Major League Baseball’s pitchers last year. The league total for home runs leapt by almost five hundred more than in 2016, despite an uptick in ISO of just around ten points. Few staffs were bitten harder by the homer bug than the Mariners, who gave up the fourth-most in the league at 237, trailing only the Orioles, White Sox, and Reds —three teams that play in bandboxes relative to Safeco. Not exactly the most esteemed company there.
One Mariner, though, had an especially severe case.