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What is Perception of Seattle Mariners' Closer Andres Munoz?
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- What is Perception of Seattle Mariners' Closer Andres Munoz?
Buster Olney speaks on the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast. Subscribe on YouTube.
It's been a very interesting year for Seattle Mariners closer Andres Munoz .
After consecutive All-Star seasons, Munoz has been wildly inconsistent this year for the M's. He started out the year with struggles through the first two months or so, then became unhittable for 1.5 months, then has seen the struggles return over the last month of the season.
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As we looked at last week, his overall metrics are outstanding, but the home run has been a problem. He's allowed nine this season, which is more than he had the last two years (8) combined. He's blown 10 saves, which is the most in baseball. He surrendered a run on Sunday in a win over the Colorado Rockies before leaving with a knee injury .
Prior to his save on Friday and his home run allowed on Sunday, we spoke with ESPN's Buster Olney on the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast about Munoz, the perception of him, and what to make of his great metrics but below average results.
"I remember this when I covered the Yankees , that people with other teams, would say, 'well, our closer, this, this, this and this'. And my response would be, 'there's only one Mariano Rivera, right? There's only one'. Now, in 2026, there's one Mason Miller . You know, they're only a very small handful of dominant closers. And then there's a group of good closers.
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There's a group of guys who are generally pretty good, but they'll get dinged around a little bit. And I think he's one of those.
And you try to get better within his own context, and I'm sure that he'll be working on adjustments during the offseason in what's going to be a bizarre offseason.
If there are changes with the coaching staff, that new group will come in, they'll have different information. They're going to try to get better.
I just think that everyone's got to understand that not everybody is a closer who just shuts down every hitter and strikes out everybody.
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That just doesn't happen.
And he's more in the middle than he is at the high end."
On the season, Munoz is 5-6 with a 4.24 ERA. He's struck out 89 batters in 57.1 innings and has a WHIP of 1.22.
The Mariners (73-83) are back in action on Tuesday night for the first of a two-game series with the Houston Astros at T-Mobile Park.
