Mariners first-rounder Hancock is living up to talent

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.

SEATTLE -- It’s taken nearly three years since the Mariners made him their first-round pick, but Emerson Hancock finally looks every bit the part of that lofty selection.

Seattle’s No. 4 prospect mowed down Double-A Corpus Christi in his 2023 debut for Arkansas last Saturday, striking out seven of the 20 he faced over five shutout innings. He gave up just three hits and one walk, but more telling, his stuff looked as good as ever. Hancock dominated with a fastball that sat 93-95 mph and generated consistent whiffs on the upper rail. The changeup continues to be a plus pitch.

“The thing that stood out most was his confidence and composure,” Mariners director of player development Justin Toole said.

Hancock, the No. 6 pick in the 2020 Draft, continues to distance himself from the early-career injuries that were setbacks to his path to the Majors. He was twice shut down in 2021 with a right shoulder impingement, and in ‘22, a strained lat muscle delayed his debut until mid-May.

Staying healthy has been his paramount priority since. So, at the offseason’s outset, he returned to the familiar and worked with a pair of athletic trainers that knew him when he was at his best, Ryan Gearheart and Sean Kenney at the University of Georgia.

“I use him as a reference to what hard work will get you,” Gearheart said. “I mean, he's physically talented, don't get me wrong, but people don't see how hard that kid works.”

Gearheart, a strength and conditioning coach who’s since joined the University of Arkansas football program, mapped out a plan to build lean mass in order to become more explosive.

“It's something that we kind of looked at in the offseason, and I felt like we could move a little bit faster,” Hancock said in Spring Training. “So that was my biggest key in throwing on the mound. Can the tempo pick up? How does that kind of change other things? And right now, it feels pretty good.”

The calculus behind this five-day-per-week program was that it might lead to more velocity and better command -- but even more so, the ability to take on a higher workload after pitching 98 1/3 innings last year.

“A leaner body composition can allow him to recover faster, because he doesn’t have so much adipose tissue that’s going to create inflammation,” Gearheart said. “So, his recovery process is going to be a lot quicker from his outings and his arm. So whatever sorts pop up, this helps in the long run.”

Hancock raves about the Mariners’ high-performance staff and their pitching brain trust that has led to many success stories for arms like his. But there was a comfort built in long-term trust with Gearheart that led him home last winter.

Gearheart has known Hancock from the very beginning -- on Hancock’s best days, when he was named the UGA’s 2020 Vince Dooley Athlete of the Year, to his worst, when he felt lost upon first arriving on campus.

“His first week in the weight room as a freshman, he literally almost started crying,” Gearheart said. “And I remember texting in the very first week and basically texted him saying, 'Hey, you need to get yourself together.' ... And that moment, I remember it like yesterday, it's just like the light went off.”

Hancock is looking to build upon a 2022 in which he made each of his 21 starts after the lat issue, over which he compiled a 3.75 ERA, 92 strikeouts and 38 walks while holding hitters to a .219/.299/.393 (.692 OPS) slash line. This spring, he made three appearances, giving up four hits and two runs with six strikeouts.

“Big time arrow up, trending right direction, whatever you want to call it from him,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I thought the velocity was better than what I was expecting to see. He looked very healthy. I thought his mound presence, like when he got an opportunity to pitch in the games, he handled it really good.”

The Mariners firmly view Hancock as a starter long term, and they’ve made it clear he could be in Seattle sooner than later.

“To be in this position, I feel the best that I ever have,” Hancock said. “I definitely feel like I have a really good mindset going into it. Having said that, it's nice to be able to be healthy, to have that routine, to have the preparation each week -- and for me that's huge.”