Here’s how this Mariner is striking out less

This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SAN DIEGO -- When Cal Raleigh ripped a walk-off single in last Wednesday's 1-0 win over the Yankees, he didn’t just lift the Mariners to an extra-inning victory that helped avoid a sweep. He also put his overhauled two-strike approach on display in its most notable form yet.

Raleigh saw straight three fastballs from Yankees reliever Ron Marinaccio that put Raleigh ahead in the count, 2-1. Marinaccio fired a changeup that Raleigh swung through to put the count even, after which he used his one timeout to regroup.

Raleigh's instincts -- that he’d see another changeup -- were correct, and with that anticipation, Seattle’s burly catcher ripped a 107.1 mph liner deep into right field to allow José Caballero to score from second base easily.

It wasn’t just Raleigh’s execution, but also his approach, that allowed him to deliver.

“As a catcher, you kind of know how you pitch guys,” Raleigh said. “I had a clue that they were going to throw me some fastballs early on. They didn't want me to just roll a changeup over and move the runner that easily. So, I was trying to be ready for the heater. They made a good pitch 2-1. And then when you get to that, you're just trying to battle, trying to get the runner over like I was the whole time. And luckily, he hung it a little bit.”

Raleigh’s acumen is widely touted as advanced for his 26 years of age, bolstered in huge part by growing up the son of a baseball coach and manning a position that requires more intuition and preparation than others. It makes him well-equipped to recognize and address his individual struggles, particularly at the plate. But implementing those adjustments is still easier said than done.

So when Raleigh began the year with a sky-high strikeout rate of 32.3% through March/April -- 31 in 96 plate appearances, MLB’s 15th-highest among 181 qualified hitters -- he knew what he was doing in two-strike counts wasn’t working.

“Those big moments, you really just need to simplify it and try to do your job trying to move the runner,” Raleigh said.

Is it just a mindset thing?

“Yeah, it's choke up. It's just trying to put it in play, as cliché as that sounds,” Raleigh said. “Free outs are strikeouts. When you put the ball in play, good things happen. Just choking up helps me handle the bat a little more. It gives me more control of the barrel.”

Raleigh’s .724 OPS in May was actually lower than his .801 clip in March/April. But his strikeout rate dropped to 19.1% in May, which ranked 110th among that same group of hitters. It’s a promising trend for a club that had MLB’s third-highest strikeout rate in May, at 25.6%.

With two strikes, he was 8-for-42 after going 8-for-56 in those same counts in the first month. He still whiffed about the same against breaking balls (40% to 38.3%) and offspeed (27.9% to 29%), but a more simplified approach has helped him compensate.

“I used to just want to hit a home run every time, if I'm being honest,” Raleigh said. “Everybody wants to be the guy. You want to hit the home run. But you've got to take what the game is giving you, and you've got to understand that the game might not call for a home run. It might just call for moving a runner.”

Many of his teammates -- particularly, run producers such as Julio Rodríguez, Eugenio Suárez and Teoscar Hernández -- have admittedly fallen into that swing-out-of-your-shoes approach in leverage moments. Taking a page from Raleigh’s revamped book might help the club collectively find ways to manufacture runs and regain their late-inning magic.

"When you try to do those little things, that's when, usually, good things happen,” Raleigh said. “You get those hits. You get those home runs. It's funny how that kind of works.”