Cole Young's Gold Glove win must set a standard for rest of Mariners defense

Cole Young is officially a Gold Glover, and it feels so good. He deserved it, and it'll do nicely for a silver lining on what was less than a golden year for the Seattle Mariners' defense as a whole.

Young, who joined Ken Griffey Jr. as the only Mariners to win a Gold Glove at age-22 or younger, beat out Michael Massey and Chase Meidroth to claim the award for American League second basemen. The Gold Gloves are mostly decided by votes from managers, coaches and players, so it seems that Young aced the eye test. Of course, finishing with +16 Defensive Runs Saved was also a factor.

In case anyone needs a refresher, here's how Young compared to the rest of the team in that regard:

• Cole Young's DRS: +16
• All Other Mariners' DRS: -39

Pretty bad! And defaulting to Defensive Runs Saved is a kindness in this case. Outs Above Average was so down on the Mariners that it had them at -58 for the year, the worst mark for a team on record.

You only find more grim stuff when you dig deeper into the Mariners' DRS returns. Their next-best defender after Young was Emerson Hancock. Then it's Rob Refsnyder, who crashed out so hard as a Mariner that he pulled the plug on his career in August. And Hancock and Refsnyder were only at +3 and +2, respectively.

Cole Young can teach the Mariners that a little effort can go a long way on defense

If there's any hope to be found here, it's in how Young was a pretty lousy defender in his own right as a rookie in 2025. It was apparent well before he finally lost his starting job at second base in September, and thus loomed as a crucial offseason battleground for his future as a major leaguer.

To his credit, Young just plain put in the work to get better. The difference from 2025 was night and day right out of the gate. All of a sudden, this allegedly bad defender was turning the entire infield into his domain. It didn't matter if he had to go far to his left or far to his right. If there was a play to be made, Young was going to make it.

If Young could go from bad to good in the course of a single offseason, the Mariners must hope that other players can, too. And to this end, there's no shortage of guys who should feel as if they have targets on their backs.

Based on DRS figures from 2026, Josh Naylor (-9), Cal Raleigh (-6) and Julio Rodríguez (-6) especially have some making up to do in 2027. They at least have track records as quality defenders that allow for some optimism. The jury is more so out on Brendan Donovan (-4) as a third baseman and even Colt Emerson (0) as a shortstop. And whether one or both takes up an everyday residence in the outfield, it's hard to have high hopes for Lazaro Montes or Michael Arroyo.

This is to say there's at least as many unknowns as there are knowns when it comes to how the defense will bounce back in 2027. That ought to have Jerry Dipoto keeping defensive upgrades near the top of his mind as he pursues offseason upgrades. It also raises the stakes for the team's next manager.

Whether it's Joe Espada, Jason Kanzler or someone else, whoever gets tabbed as Dan Wilson's replacement will need to make good on all that talk about accountability from September. It's an abstract concept, but defense is one area where a more emphatic culture of accountability could have a real-world impact. If there's a clear understanding that bad defense is unacceptable, that can only help.

Perhaps it's naive to think as much, but Cole Young's example doesn't hurt. He's living proof that turning a weakness into a strength can just be a matter of willpower.

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