Cole Young leaves game early with illness

No surprise after he left last night’s game with the illness. Leo Rivas will draw the start and play shortstop.

Over the last 25 games, Young has the second-best wRC+ on the Mariners. He’s slashed .280/.333/.460 in those games, with four home runs, 12 runs scored, and nine RBI. He needs to be rostered in more fantasy formats, especially if you need batting average.

With J.P. Crawford (wrist) landing on the injured list on Friday, Rivas will have another opportunity to show the Mariners what he can do in a reserve role. The 28-year-old has hit .131/.263/.172 with zero homers and seven RBI in 120 plate appearances with the M’s this season.

With Dominic Canzone resting, the 22-year-old Young hit third for the first time this season today, even though the Mariners were facing a lefty and Young had hit just .217/.267/.330 against southpaws. It worked out just fine, obviously. Young reached on an error, struck out and singled against Robbie Ray and then homered off righty Adrian Houser in the seventh. He also hit a big homer in Saturday’s win, and he now has 13 on the year.

Young’s homer off Logan Webb gave the Mariners their only runs in regulation before Julio Rodríguez won the game with a sac fly in the 10th. It was Young’s 12th homer this season. His .254/.313/.400 line is hardly eyepopping, but for a 22-year-old playing in T-Mobile half of the time, it’s really quite impressive and bodes well for him being a quality regular for the next 10 or 12 years.

Young put the Mariners on the board in the top of the fifth inning when he blasted his 11th homer of the season off of Nick Martinez to cut the Rays’ lead to 2-1. Young has now homered twice this month but is slashing just .154/.214/.423 in July with a few games to go before the All-Star Break.

Young took Marlins ace Max Meyer deep in the fifth inning to help jumpstart Seattle’s comeback effort. It was his lone hit in three at-bats and third long ball in his last seven games.

Young hit a 412-foot homer off Ryan Johnson in the third and then a 406-foot bomb to right off Match Farris in the sixth. It’s his first career two-homer game. Six of his nine homers this season have come in his last 27 games. His fantasy ceiling remains low while playing in a pitcher’s park and not being much of a basestealer, but he’s been about as effective as any American League second baseman to date this season.

Young grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, so hitting a big homer in his first career game at PNC Park must be a dream come true. If the Pirates had it to do over again, they’d happily take him instead of fellow high school infielder Termarr Johnson with the fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft. Young, though, ended up going 21st to the Mariners. Young is hitting .253/.319/.372 with seven homers through 80 games as a 22-year-old sophomore, making him pretty close to a league average hitter once playing in T-Mobile Park gets factored in, and is playing well above average defense at second in the process.

The Mariners started a two-out rally against Shane Baz in the opening inning as Josh Naylor singled and Dominic Canzone drew a walk. Young then followed by smoking a double into the left field corner that plated two runs — providing all of the run support that Bryan Woo and company would require. Young then scored on an RBI knock by Colt Emerson. Young finished the day 1-for-3 and is now hitting .257/.318/.370 with six homers and 34 RBI on the season.