Two Seattle names land on MLB's top ten hitting prospects list

The Mariners are a pretty young team. They have the fourth youngest pitching staff in the MLB with a weighted average age of 27.8 years old, older than just the Pirates, Giants, and Marlins. The lineup, however, is closer to the older side of things. With veterans like Mitch Haniger (33), Mitch Garver (33), and Dylan Moore (31) seeing consistent playing time, some might wonder if more youth is the answer to a somewhat lackluster offensive effort in 2024. Seattle is currently at a .665 team OPS, 24th in MLB.

Luckily, help might be coming sooner rather than later. MLB recently published a ranking of the top ten pure-hitting prospects in the minors. A few names were unsurprising, such as Jackson Holliday, Dylan Crews, and Junior Caminero. For the most part, each organization had just one representative but the Twins and the Mariners managed to land two.

The first name mentioned was Cole Young, a middle infield prospect drafted 21st overall in 2022 out of North Allegheny High School. He has spent the entirety of the 2024 season with the Double-A Arkansas Travelers and is currently slashing .259/.344/.407 with nine doubles and five home runs over 188 plate appearances. While not the greatest numbers the league has ever seen, he's still only 20 years old and full of potential, which is what earned him his #7 spot on the list. Writer Jim Callis noted that:

"He's still drawing a ton of walks, he's still not striking out excessively ... I think it's just a matter of him getting off to a slow start. He has been pushed very aggressively by the Mariners because they believe in his hitting ability, his ability to control the strike zone, to make good swing decisions, to make hard contact. He's definitely a hit-over-power guy, but I think as he gets more physically mature, we're going to see 15-20 homers."

- Jim Callis

Right after him at #8 was fellow middle infield prospect Colt Emerson. He is the team's most recent first-round draft pick and was taken 22nd overall in 2023 out of John Glenn High School. After posting a 1.045 OPS in rookie ball and Low-A, he's now slashing .271/.441/.414 with four doubles and two home runs over 93 plate appearances with the Modesto Nuts in Low-A. His on-base abilities have stood out the most out of his well-rounded skillset and MLB writer Jonathan Mayo remarked that:

"Really good on-base skills, more walks than strikeouts so far in his early career, doesn't swing and miss a lot either. I think he's going to be a true impact-kind of guy who just needs to get past the foot injury, and he will and get back at it. I think once he starts getting some at-bats under his belt, he's another one of the Mariners’ young hitters who could move pretty quickly, kind of like Cole Young has."

- Jonathan Mayo

The future is bright for Seattle. Not mentioned were other top prospects like Lazaro Montes (.926 OPS in Low-A) and Felnin Celesten (1.003 OPS in rookie ball) so it's safe to say that there are even more young position player prospects than the two mentioned above. We all know that in the sport of baseball, prospect pedigree rarely translates to the big leagues as perfectly as we'd like it to but for now, it's fun to hope and dream.