3 changes that unlocked Mariners' Cole Young as one of the AL's best second baseman

Mariners second baseman Cole Young is one of the few bright spots in what has otherwise been a frustrating and disappointing season. His 2.1 fWAR at this point in the season make him the third-most valuable position player on the team by the statistic behind Julio Rodríguez (2.3) and Randy Arozarena (3.2). It also makes him the third-most valuable second baseman in the American League behind Jazz Chisholm Jr. (2.4) and Chase Meidroth (3.0).

What makes this season even more impressive is just how much better it's going than last year. As a rookie and No. 49 prospect in baseball, the expectations were high and he struggled to meet them. He posted a wRC+ of just 80 and accumulated -0.3 fWAR, but he was a top prospect for a reason and this year, he's finally coming into his own in a few key ways.

Cole Young has pulled off an offensive and defensive revolution in his sophomore Mariners season

1. He's making more contact

Last year, Young had a whiff rate of 24.6% which was right about league average. However, his zone-contact rate of just 79.3% was closer to the bottom quartile of hitters. A whiff on a pitch inside the strike zone and outside the strike zone are both worth the same on paper, but he was wasting his best chances to do damage against hittable pitches.

This year, his whiff rate is down to just 18.6% and his zone contact rate is 86.9%, both of which are significant improvements. He took a big step forward when it came to hitting the four-seam fastball, a pitch against which he missed 25.2% of his swings and slugged just .256. Now, he's whiffing just 15.5% of the time with a .404 slugging percentage.

In a June report by Kate Preusser of Lookout Landing, Young credited his work with Edgar Martinez for his improvements at the plate. The worked on simplifying his approach and ensuring that his hands were ready sooner, contributing to his improved numbers against higher velocity pitches like the aforementioned fastball.

2. He's squaring up more pitches

Not only is Young getting the bat to the ball more often, he's squaring the up the ball with more authority. It's not enough to simply make contact these days, hitting the ball hard is what powers modern lineups. Exit velocity is one way to measure this but it's a blunt instrument and for middle infielders, it's unrealistic to have the same power expectations as first basemen or right fielders.

Statcast's squared up percentage is a more refined way to calculate whether a hitter is getting the most out of their swing. The maximum exit velocity is calculated for each batted ball depending on the velocity of the pitch and the speed of the bat. Any swing that achieved an exit velocity of at least 80% of its calculated maximum is considered by Statcast to be squared up.

In 2025, Cole Young was squaring up just 24.8% of his pitches and this year, it's up to 28.3%. This has given him a similar increase in hard hit rate (31.1% to 38.9%) and his slugging percentage has seen a meaningful increase from .305 to .406 year over year. Pop isn't an essential part of his toolkit but it's a skill that's steadily coming together as he continues to develop at the plate.

3. He's playing much better defense

Defensive metrics often paint a less clear picture than offensive metrics and it's largely because the main figures that are referenced (Defensive Runs Saved, Outs Above Average, Fielding Run Value), are all calculated slightly differently. However, something all three figures agree on is that Young is much better this year than he was last year.

OAA and FRV still don't think he's quite up to snuff with his peers at second base but DRS adores what he has done this year. A month into the season, he was one of the best at the position by the statistic and several months later, he's still holding his own. His 13 DRS is third among all second basemen behind only Nasim Nuñez (15) and Brice Turang (16).

Fielding in baseball is far fuzzier than offense and there are fewer compartmentalized statistics devoted to identifying what he's actually doing better but the strides could simply be the result of gaining more experience and spending more time in the big leagues.

This is his first full season in the majors and he has already shown that he can adapt when needed. Some have described him as a high floor kind of player and given what he's already done at just 23 years old, it's getting harder to argue otherwise.

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