Latest Cole Young fluff definitely sounds like a money-saving Mariners excuse

Every offseason, the Seattle Mariners find a new way to say the quiet part out loud: We’d love to upgrade, but we also really like the guys we already have.

This week’s version from The Athletic comes wrapped in the kind of front-office buzzword perfume that’s supposed to make you nod along: Seattle remains “high on” Cole Young, and one rival exec apparently called him “the league model darling right now,” because projection systems love him more than scouts do. 

Cool. Love a darling. Love a model. Love a spreadsheet with confidence.

And yet … If you’re a Seattle Mariners fan who just saw your favorite team come so darn close to playing in the World Series, you’re probably allowed to ask yourself the obvious: Are we being fed optimism because it’s truth; Or is it simply less expensive?

Mariners’ Cole Young optimism is starting to sound a little too convenient

Firstly, let’s address the most amusing: The publicly available projections of Young do not exactly scream "give him second base and a starting role in the playoffs, no notes."

The Steamer projections for Young in 2026 essentially boil down to a good news/bad news scenario: A nice batting line; good plate discipline; modest power; and (most importantly) only 300 plate appearances. This does not say "every day cornerstone," it says "let's see what happens."

Steamer’s line for Young: 79 games, 300 PA, .242/.328/.365, 5 HR, 103 wRC+, 1.3 WAR. That’s… fine! Useful, even. But it reads like a rookie who helps you, not a rookie you build your entire infield plan around.

And if you need a reminder why the models are cautious, look at what actually happened in the majors last year. Young’s 2025 MLB line on FanGraphs: 77 games, 257 PA, .211/.302/.305, 80 wRC+, and the defensive value was underwater (-5.4 Def), dragging the overall value down with it. 

The other issue is the one that always shows up when a young hitter gets a taste of the big leagues: pitchers find the hole, and they just keep punching it until you prove you can adjust.

Baseball Savant has Young hitting .185 against 4-seam fastballs in 2025, with a rough run value and a wOBA that basically dares teams to challenge him in the zone. 

That doesn’t mean he’s doomed. His underlying profile is actually pretty “Mariners prospect” in the best way — walks, manageable strikeouts, and some indicators that he wasn’t completely overmatched. He had a 10.9 percent walk rate and 18.3 percent K rate in 2025, plus an xwOBA a bit healthier than the actual results.

But here’s the part Seattle can’t dodge: this roster is trying to win right now. ZiPS basically treats the Mariners like an AL heavyweight again. That’s not the time to pencil in a big question mark at second base and call it “development.”

The tell is how this “belief in Cole Young” conveniently lines up with Seattle’s rumored trade logic. If the Mariners trade for someone like Brendan Donovan, the argument is that his versatility lets them improve without stapling the position shut for years — which even FanGraphs’ ZiPS piece acknowledges could make sense in a “500 PA supersub” kind of role. 

But if the Mariners do nothing and tell you it’s because Young is a “model darling,” that’s when it starts to feel like spin. Not because Young can’t become a real player — he can — but because the public evidence says he’s still in the “earn it” phase, not the “hand him the keys” phase. 

If Seattle truly believes in him, great. Then prove it the smart way: add a legit infielder who raises the floor, keeps the lineup from having a soft spot, and lets Young develop without the whole season riding on his April.

Otherwise, it’s going to feel less like conviction… and more like a budget meeting wearing a Mariners hoodie.