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Mariners’ young infielders ‘ride for each other’ in fantastic voyage to Seattle

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BALTIMORE – J.P. Crawford has held the Seattle Mariners’ shortstop position for the past eight seasons and would prefer that continue, though is prepared for change.

Cole Young was selected in the first round by the Mariners in 2022 and moved quickly through the system to fill that position – until Seattle drafted a kid just down I-70 from him who turned out to be even better.

Colt Emerson is the one with certainty – in the form of an eight-year, $95 million contract, largest ever given a player before his major league debut – yet realizes unlocking his dream job long term requires soaking up the wisdom of those who came before him.

There is an undercurrent of humanity within what could be an awkward situation – three guys, one job – and it is the Mariners who are benefiting. The defending American League West champions were 23-27 after losing on May 17, the day they summoned Emerson for his major league debut.

They’ve since won 13 of 18 games, seized first place in the West and reestablished the World Series hopes that accompanied this season after they fell two innings shy of that goal in 2025.

Colt Emerson celebrates a home run against the Tigers.

Along the way, they’ve fully integrated two cogs of their future – Young and Emerson – into their present. Both are benefiting from Crawford, the clubhouse sage that many have described as the Mariners’ de facto captain.

“He’s an open book. And I’m really grateful for that,” Emerson, still just 20 years old, tells USA TODAY Sports. “Him showing us support and showing us the ropes and being accepting of me is everything I could ask for.

“It’s really good to have him on this team and have his support and as a teammate.”

Crawford, 31, is in the final year of a five-year, $51 million contract. Shortly after Emerson’s arrival, he professed his willingness to move to third base, taking grounders there and expressing his desire to be a “Mariner for life.”

Off-season machinations are still months away, and the club still has prized winter trade acquisition Brendan Donovan – currently on the injured list with a groin injury – under control for another season, though Donovan can play the outfield, as well.

For now, though, he’s a de facto piece of a Mariners development machine that seems to grow more impressive every year.

“It’s his ability to relate to me and to Colt as well,” says Young of Crawford. “He knows how hard it is once you get called up. All the emotions and thoughts that come with that. He does a really good job guiding us in that direction – whether it’s on- or off-field stuff.

“He’s such a good leader and I’m so thankful to have someone like that. He’s had a huge impact on me.”

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Cole Young and Colt Emerson: Same road to Seattle

While Young and Emerson feature different facets to their game, their professional indoctrinations were near carbon copies.

Young was drafted 21st overall in 2022 out of Pittsburgh’s North Allegheny High School, cracked the top 100 prospect lists a year later and reached No. 37 by 2024.

He didn’t hold the title as the Mariners’ definitive shortstop of the future for very long.

Emerson was drafted 22nd overall in 2023, emerging just down the I-70 corridor from Young out of New Concord, Ohio’s John Glenn High School. He, too, was a top 100 guy by his first full pro season, reached the top 20 two years later and was a consensus top 10 guy before this season.

As projected late first-round picks, both describe a similar journey: Exhaustive two-hour interviews over Zoom with Andy McKay, then the Mariners’ assistant general manager; Young also had a meeting with the Mariners at the MLB draft combine.

The questions only had so much to do with baseball.

“Character’s a big thing,” says Emerson. “It was a two-hour meeting of asking personal questions and character questions and what would you do in this situation, and stuff like that.”

“He’s had such a huge impact on me,” Seattle Mariners infielder Cole Young, right, says of J.P. Crawford, here dousing him with a sports drink after a walk-off single June 1.

Says Young: “They take a lot of time to know you as a person. That’s the most important thing in this game – being a good person and a good teammate goes such a long way. They really care about you as an individual and that helps you a lot as a player.”

Young’s team-first mentality would undergo a test of sorts as Emerson rumbled through the system, needing just 40 games to graduate low A ball as an 18-year-old in 2024 and vaulting two levels to finish at Class AAA Tacoma last year, posting an .842 OPS and 16 homers at the three levels.

Young was already on the varsity, making his Seattle debut May 31, playing in 77 games and sitting wide-eyed in the dugout, though not on the roster, for the Mariners’ two wild playoff series against Detroit (a five-game ALDS conquest) and Toronto (a gutting seven-game ALCS defeat).

Yet it was hard to ignore the freight train behind him in the minors. And Young hadn’t conceived that there’d be room for both he and Emerson someday.

“For me, it was just like, I’m going to try my hardest and whatever happens, happens. I’m going to come to the field every day and put in the work,” says Young. “I never imagined we’d play together – when he got drafted I was like oh, that’s cool, he’s from pretty close to me. That’s awesome.

“But I just worked really hard and once I got to know him it was like, ‘I want to play with him. I think it’d be fun.’”

Jorge Polanco’s free agent departure opened up second base for Young; he’s played in every game this season, producing a respectable 2.2 WAR in 67 games, with four homers and a .675 OPS just shy of league average.

When Donovan hit the IL in mid-May, there was a lane to third base for Emerson, who at 6 feet, 195 pounds possesses greater power potential than Young and began the season polishing his skills at Class AAA even after signing his $95 million guarantee.

Big league pitching has not daunted Emerson: He’s hit four homers in just 19 games, with an .867 OPS.

And suddenly the three shortstops comprised almost the entire infield – Emerson at third, Crawford at short, Young at second.

Funny how things work out: After Crawford was hit in the hand by a pitch June 5 in Detroit, he was placed on the IL three days later with a contusion and Emerson was penciled in at shortstop. Yet shortly before their June 8 game against the Orioles at Camden Yards, Emerson’s back spasmed.

And there was Young, making his first career start at shortstop.

“He said it’s kind of like riding a bike,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said of Young making his first start at short since AAA ball. “It’s great to have that flexibility from him.”

Young believes it’s simply embracing the ethos that percolates through the organization.

“Everyone just wants you to grow,” he says. “As a person and a player.”

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(Brad Penner, Brad Penner-Imagn Images)

Fantastic voyage

Nowadays, that growth seems to happen at warp speed for elite players.

Emerson’s shadow in the latter portion of his amateur career was Kevin McGonigle, now an American League Rookie of the Year candidate for the Detroit Tigers. They were travel adversaries – Emerson on Team Elite, McGonigle, from neighboring Pennsylvania – for the Canes National team – and eventually Team USA teammates who won an 18U World Cup title in 2022.

Since then, they’ve traded milestones.

Emerson was picked 22nd overall by the Mariners in 2023, while McGonigle went 37th overall to Detroit. Emerson got his $95 million guarantee March 31 – but McGonigle debuted on the Opening Day roster, and then signed a nine-year, $150 million contract.

He’s also probably headed to the All-Star Game, raising a floor Emerson’s accustomed to reaching.

“That draft class was really good. A lot of great people. I don’t know any different,” says Emerson of the Class of ’23. “I think iron sharpens iron. Having those guys around, ultimately playing with them and seeing them go about their business, taking tips from them makes an impact.”

Emerson and McGonigle crossed paths last weekend when the Mariners played in Detroit; the two hung out before a game and no, there was no discussion of who’d pick up the check.

Detroit and Seattle squared off in last year’s ALDS. The titillating five-game set – Seattle prevailed in the winner-take-all Game 5 in 15 innings – and the seven-game setback that followed in Toronto unlocked a level of baseball that Young, watching from the dugout, could not fathom.

“It made me see, there’s so much to this game that I didn’t realize,” he says. “The atmosphere of those games – it’s what you play for. It’s why you work so hard.

“To play in that atmosphere. To play to win a World Series. And also, made us realize, hey, we can play in the World Series. We’re a really good team.

“Having that vision every single day is so important.”

Wilson, in his second full season as Mariners manager, presides over a 36-32 club. He appreciates that today’s young player seems uber-prepared, both due to their amateur pedigree and the good work of the Mariners’ player development arm, among other factors.

“It’s also a huge credit to those guys in the clubhouse,” says Wilson. “I know all the veterans have taken both those guys under their wing some and those guys pouring into them oftentimes makes a huge difference.

“It’s a tremendous effort on everybody’s part, but the end product is those guys come here and are able to settle in quickly and become pretty polished.”

There’s still nearly 100 games for Emerson to acclimate. He anticipates the rest of the journey to be similarly smooth.

“I feel like that’s why we have a lot of success – we ride for each other,” says Emerson.

“Good people, good place.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Seattle Mariners’ Cole Young and Colt Emerson learn from JP Crawford

Read the full article here

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