One current Seattle Mariners prospect who will be a future Silver Slugger winner

Now that Cole Young has been revealed as a Gold Glove finalist, we await to see which Seattle Mariners will make the cut as finalists for the Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Awards. It'll probably just be Randy Arozarena, which would at least right a wrong even if the reveal will be bittersweet.

And so, we hope for the future. May there be Mariners Silver Slugger winners aplenty, ideally including up-and-comers for 2027 like Lazaro Montes and Michael Arroyo. Among Seattle's current crop of hitting prospects, Felnin Celesten, Jonny Farmelo and Luke Stevenson may have Silver Slugger upside as well.

Then there's the safe bet: Ace Reese.

It's a lot of pressure to put on a guy who wasn't even a professional until this July. The Mariners selected him out of Mississippi State with the No. 24 pick in the draft, hyping him at the time as one of the country's elite hitters. That, too, was a lot of pressure.

But then, the 21-year-old arrived and posted a higher OPS in his first 21 games with Single-A Inland Empire (1.197) than he did in his last 62 games at the NCAA level with the Bulldogs. Reese had more walks than strikeouts, and 11 of his 33 hits went for extra bases. Per Carlos Collazo of Baseball America, it was the most impressive pro debut of any 2026 draft pick.

Why Ace Reese has the goods to be a future Mariners Silver Slugger winner

It's not quite a 1:1 comparison, but the energy of Reese's pro debut is similar to that of Nick Kurtz back in 2024. He was a standout left-handed hitter when the A's drafted him in the first round, and then he promptly destroyed Single-A pitching for a 1.531 OPS. He was in the big leagues the following April, and went on to win the AL Rookie of the Year and a Silver Slugger.

The Kurtz path represents the best-case scenario for Reese, who couldn't replicate Kurtz's feat of making it to Double-A before the end of 2026. Yet he could prove to have a similar profile, as a power-first lefty slugger whose swing-and-miss tendencies are offset by good patience.

The power is there. Between college and the pros, Reese hit 27 home runs in 83 games this year. He has a vicious uppercut swing from the left side of the plate, reminiscent of Carlos Gonzalez from back in the day. Collazo described Reese as a "barrel machine" who does well in getting the ball in the air to his pull side.

Barreling the ball is the easiest way to generate power, while pulling the ball in the air is the easiest way to actually collect results. The PullAIR% leaderboard is generally populated with some of the game's top sluggers, including Cal Raleigh in 2025 and Pete Crow-Armstrong this year.

Sticking with the Kurtz model, the contrast between his 31.6 K% and 152 wRC+ fits him into a niche of great hitters who aren't always good at literally hitting the ball. It helps that he has a career 15.4 BB%, close to double the league-wide average of 8.9 percent from this season.

Reports on Reese are split on this aspect of his game, but the MLB Pipeline book states that he is "making progress with his swing decisions." A 19/12 strikeout-to-walk ratio at Single-A doesn't necessarily prove the point, but it could eventually be revealed as a tease of better discipline to come.

The bigger question is whether Reese, who was drafted as a third baseman, actually sticks there. He might be more of a first baseman or left fielder, if not a designated hitter. Either way, he's the type of guy you can project as an annual 30-homer threat in the big leagues if he continues to hone his craft at the plate.

Guys like that are Silver Slugger material, plain and simple.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow