Cole

Young

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.

Young started off the game with a bang, crushing an 0-2 slider from Kyle Bradish for a 364-foot (105.3-mph EV) solo shot. He also singled twice in the contest. With his three-hit attack, the 22-year-old infielder is slashing .255/.321/.363 with five homers, 32 RBI and a pair of stolen bases in 281 plate appearances with the M’s this season.

The encouraging development here is that Emerson was able to resume swinging a bat and is optimistic he’ll avoid a trip to the injured list. The 20-year-old top prospect is sitting out his third consecutive game due to back tightness with Cole Young drawing another start at shortstop. Emerson is presumably day-to-day heading into Thursday’s series finale in Baltimore.

It sounds like a precautionary decision, but back issues are notoriously complex matters. It’ll be Cole Young moving over to cover shortstop in his absence. Emerson’s absence comes at a challenging time for Seattle’s middle infield mix since veteran J.P. Crawford hit the injured list with a hand contusion earlier on Monday. The 20-year-old prodigy has gotten off to a nice start in his rookie campaign, hitting .242/.319/.548 with four homers and 10 RBI through 19 games. There should be an update on Emerson’s status following the contest. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.