Trammell stays red hot for Tacoma

May 18th, 2021
Taylor Trammell started the season with 27 games at the Major League level.Jeff Halstead/Tacoma Rainiers

is six games into his return to the Minor Leagues. He has yet to finish a game with fewer than two hits. Hot streaks like this don’t come around too often.

“I would say probably toward the end of Spring Training this year,” Trammell said of the last time he remembered hitting the way his last week has gone. “And then more than likely probably high school. There was a time when I literally was like, ‘I don’t think I can get out’ in high school.”

Seattle’s No. 6 prospect continued his blistering start at Triple-A with a homer for the third straight game, adding two doubles and five RBIs as Tacoma rolled to a 7-3 win at Salt Lake on Monday night.

“It’s weird to talk about it just because this game is humbling,” Trammell said after the win. “Honestly, I’m just trying to hit the ball up the middle. That’s really all I’m trying to do.”

Trammell started his night on the best possible note, cranking a three-run homer to right in the top of the first inning to give the Rainiers their first lead of the evening.

After flying out to center in the third, Trammell plated a run on a sacrifice fly to right in the fifth.

His performance was far from over.

Despite having 11 hits in his first four Triple-A games, Trammell had not tallied a double until the seventh inning on Monday night when he lined an RBI two-bagger to right field. In the ninth, for his final act, the 84th overall prospect in baseball added another double to center. It was his fifth straight multi-hit game after mustering just two of those in his 27 Major League games to start the season.

Trammell said last week his move down to Tacoma was driven in part by the Mariners’ emphasis on his continued development with handling offspeed pitches. So far, so good.

“It’s going really well,” he said. “I’m hitting them. You don’t like getting too critical in these times just because you’re trying to feel one or two things, but right now it’s going well. I’m just trying to stay on the fastball, and if they do throw [offspeed], just trying to take it the other way or up the middle of the field.”

Through five games with Tacoma since being sent down from Seattle, Trammell, who was named to the Prospect Team of the Week on Monday, has gone 14-for-22 with six extra-base hits, 14 RBIs and an overall slash line of .636/.640/1.273 for an eye-popping 1.913 OPS.

“Right now I’m just determined to be the best person, be the best teammate that I can be every single day,” he said. “[The demotion] is kind of a little sting. I do want to be back up in Seattle. It’s kind of that motivation of I know what I can do, and I want to be up there. I want to prove myself every single day and just be hungry. On the other hand, I’m just trying to have fun. That’s all I’m trying to do. We have really good guys on this team, really good players, really good people.”

After the Rainiers finish up their six-game series with the Bees on Tuesday, Trammell will get a chance to return to the Pacific Northwest as Tacoma opens up a home series against Round Rock beginning Friday. Trammell is ready.

“I do enjoy the fans in Seattle a lot,” he said. “They’re really great fans. For me, it’s fun just to be out there, to sleep in my own bed in my apartment out there, that’s going to be nice. I like Seattle a lot. I like Tacoma a lot. I like that area just because it’s so green, stuff like that. It’s comfortable. I like it a lot. To be able to play in front of those fans, I’m looking forward to it.”