Cole Young's Mariners promotion has created a potentially fatal flaw in roster

In a move that’s more about the Seattle Mariners’ future than their present emergency preparedness, Seattle recently promoted top infield prospect Cole Young while optioning utilityman Leo Rivas.

On the surface, it’s an exciting baseball decision — Young is a cornerstone piece of the rebuild, a polished lefty bat with elite plate discipline. But in the roster shuffle, the Mariners may have unknowingly created a low-key, potentially catastrophic flaw: they no longer have an emergency catcher.

Shane Lantz of The Seattle Times pointed this out over the weekend, noting that Rivas — despite never actually spending any time behind the plate in an MLB game — was the team’s break-glass-in-case-of-emergency catcher. With him back in Triple-A Tacoma, that glass is now…well, empty.

Cole Young promotion leaves Dan Wilson unsure of emergency catcher behind Cal Raleigh and Mitch Garver

When manager Dan Wilson was asked who the new emergency catcher is, he didn’t exactly inspire confidence. He did, however, provide a little bit of comedy by saying: “We’re reassessing. There’s not a lot of guys that raise their hand.”

Look, this isn’t the biggest problem facing the 2025 Mariners. The offense still sputters more than it surges, and the bullpen’s late-inning roulette is the real nightly stomach-turner. But in 162-game seasons, weird stuff does happen. Catchers get ejected. Catchers get injured. And in a nightmare scenario — like say, a 14-inning game — the M's could be looking at Dylan Moore in shin guards or Miles Mastrobuoni catching 98 mph with oven mitts. That’s not a vibe. Maybe the promotion of Harry Ford could soon provide some versatility and an emergency catcher?

It’s the kind of thing you laugh about until you’re not laughing anymore.

To be clear, no one’s blaming the Mariners for prioritizing Young’s development. But emergency catching depth is one of those quirky, overlooked roster oddities — like backup kickers in the NFL. You hope you never need one. But you really want to know who it is when you do.

So, here’s hoping the Mariners find someone — anyone — willing to raise their hand soon. Or at least someone with enough flexibility (and padding) to fake it until top prospect, Harry Ford gets the call.