Gold Glove finalist Cole Young has only scratched surface of his Mariners potential

Cole Young is officially a Gold Glove finalist at second base, and we don't mind telling you that they got this one right. Dude led all American League second basemen with +16 Defensive Runs Saved. Of course he's a Gold Glove finalist.

It's whether he'll win that's the more interesting question. He's up against Chase Meidroth of the Chicago White Sox and Michael Massey of the Kansas City Royals, both of whom have Outs Above Average in their favor. Meidroth and Massey finished at +9 and +11, respectively, whereas OAA had Young down at -5 for the 2026 season.

Ultimately, all Mariners fans can do in rooting for Young is cross their fingers and try to trust the process. For the Gold Gloves, it's 75 percent votes from MLB managers, coaches and players, and 25 percent input from the SABR Defensive Index.

That Young, 23, is even in this position is nonetheless deserving of bragging rights on his part. His defense at second base was one of the major issues that cropped up during his rookie season in 2025, culminating in iffy returns of +1 DRS and -9 OAA over 621.0 innings. He didn't have a ton of range, which made it harder to forgive his four errors.

Young really was a dramatically different player in the field this year. He made only six errors despite more than doubling his innings. And while OAA obviously begs to differ, those who watched him all year have every reason to agree with DRS when it comes to his range.

Becoming a better hitter is Cole Young's next mountain to climb for Mariners

Simply as is, Young proved in 2026 that he has the goods to be one of the Mariners' better players. He was worth 4.4 rWAR, putting him just 0.1 off Meidroth's lead among AL second basemen.

There is nonetheless the question of whether Young's bat can make the same kind of leap that his glove has. Whereas his defense went from bad to great from 2025 to 2026, his hitting went from bad to merely OK. His 17 home runs were fine, but a 99 OPS+ is one of those numbers that leaves you wanting more.

Young made good enough contact in posting a solidly above-average 17.1 strikeout percentage, yet his contact quality metrics were uniformly below average. He notably had a 5.1 barrel percentage that landed in the 23rd percentile.

Even here, though, there's a silver lining to be found. After Julio Rodríguez challenged him to get better after the disappointment of the 2025 ALCS, Young showed up to spring training looking bigger and stronger. Some of his batted-ball metrics subsequently moved in the right direction, as he added 0.7 mph in average exit velocity and upped his hard-hit rate by 6.4 percentage points.

If there's another leap from here that goes to say, 20-25 home runs and an OPS+ over 100, that's where Young looks less like a hidden gem and more like an All-Star.

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