Why Cooper Hummel is going to be a really fun player for Seattle
Cooper Hummel was an interesting addition by Seattle in the Kyle Lewis deal, but what could he provide to this team?
Adding a 28-year-old player with almost no big-league success doesn’t usually excite a fan base. It doesn’t inspire confidence when the player you are trading away was nearly a superstar and is just two years removed from being the American League Rookie of the Year. However, I think Seattle has really found something here.
The trade for Cooper Hummel was more about the fact that the Mariners had finally decided to move on from Kyle Lewis, a once budding superstar. Lewis and the organization weren’t exactly seeing eye to eye, a situation brought on by a balky knee that will likely never improve.
Because of his limitations, there wasn’t going to be a significant return for Lewis, instead netting the Mariners an AAAA-type player with almost no big league success. Jerry Dipoto is always creative, and we knew there had to be a reason he liked Hummel in this deal.
Hummel is a 28-year-old outfielder who has also played a fair amount of catcher in his professional career. He is a Portland native who was drafted in the 18th round out of the University of Portland in 2016.
Hummel has slowly worked his way up through the minors, changing organizations twice before he has had any chance to make an impact at the MLB level. Whenever Jerry Dipoto makes a move like this we must dig deeper to look for creative reasons why the team coveted him.
The former Portland Pilot owns a career slash line of .267/.397/.445 in the minor leagues, but struggled to move quickly through the ranks. His numbers haven’t been pretty in limited time in the majors, putting together just a 65 WRC+ in 66 career games.
There is usually a reason why a player like Hummel struggles to move up to the big leagues, and the offense seems to be the reason here. There is little power in his profile and despite a 55-grade hit tool, it is clear nobody has believed in his bat enough thus far.
So what do the Mariners see in him? There is actually plenty to like here, and I believe Seattle may have found something in Hummel.
First of all, Hummel controls the strike zone at an elite level. He has walked at a 11 percent or higher clip in every minor league season, even posting numbers in the mid to high teens on several occasions.
This part of his game reminds me a lot of Dylan Moore, a player who has supreme on-base ability but could struggle to hit for average or much pop. His on-base ability has been elite in the minor leagues, leading to a 117 or higher WRC+ in every season besides his rookie year in professional baseball.
Hummel also strikes out at a very low rate, never posting a number above 25.6% in his minor league career. In his first taste of MLB action, the switch hitter struck out over 30 percent of the time. I expect this number to eventually become serviceable, and for him to start controlling the strike zone at an above-average level.
In addition to his strike zone awareness, Hummel also possesses other tools. Last season he ranked in the 88th percentile of sprint speed, which puts him in a very similar category to Mariner utility player Sam Haggerty.
He also posted a max exit velocity in the 71st percentile and arm strength in the 92nd percentile. These numbers lead me to believe that he is an explosive athlete, one thing the Mariners covet especially in bench players.
Perhaps his greatest ability is his defensive versatility. Many would point to this versatility as the reason why Seattle was drawn to him in the first place.
He is very fast and is a primary outfielder, and numbers suggest he is average to slightly below average in the outfield. I would bet with more consistent work Hummel could become an average defender at least in a corner, especially with plus arm strength and speed.
Hummel is also a catcher which makes his profile even more interesting. He is likely not going to catch much in Seattle, but the ability to be passable there allows flexibility. The team can be more aggressive with Cal Raleigh at DH knowing they have another catcher on the bench.
If Seattle can improve his catching ability they will have him as a potential backup catcher long-term.
This profile is extremely interesting, and it is easy to see why the Mariners wanted to take a shot on him. He reminds me a lot of Dylan Moore and Sam Haggerty put together, with the catching ability of Luis Torrens. The key will be posting a WRC+ as close as possible to average, something I definitely believe he can do.
Not only is he a fun and interesting player, but the 28-year-old super-utility man is also a local kid. I believe the Pacific Northwest native has the potential to carve out a really interesting and fun role on this roster.