Cole Young belts 15th home run in win Saturday

Brendan Donovan is leading off against a righty. Sixth is the lowest Young has hit in the order since July 24. Young went 0-for-6 on Friday after being held out of Thursday’s starting lineup due to an illness. He’s 5-for-36 with no extra-base hits and one RBI in his last 10 games.

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

Young was experiencing dizziness, which led to him being replaced at second base by Leo Rivas in the seventh inning. He was 1-for-4 with a run scored prior to departing.

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 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.