Cole

Young

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.

No word yet on the reason for the move. The Seattle Times’ Adam Jude adds that Emerson went through pregame drills without incident. The timing couldn’t be worse for the Mariners if the decision is injury-related since J.P. Crawford hit the injured list with a hand contusion earlier on Monday. The 20-year-old prodigy was in the midst of a strong debut for Seattle, hitting .242/.319/.548 with four homers and 10 RBI through his first 19 games. There should be an update on his status shortly. It’ll be Cole Young handling shortstop with both Crawford and Emerson out.

Young’s hit was a little 65-mph flare to shallow left that no one had a play on. Fortunately for Young, automatic runner Randy Arozarena had just stolen third base; he almost surely would have been held up if he’d still been on second. Young also walked tonight. His .250/.325/.363 line isn’t going to make him a fantasy darling, but it’s really quite solid for a 22-year-old second baseman playing in one of the game’s toughest hitting environments half of the time.

Young was the only player on either the Mariners or Braves to finish with multiple hits today, and he provided an insurance run in a 2-1 game in the eighth with his third knock. He has four three-hit games this season. Last year, he accomplished that just twice in 77 games after his callup.

Young had a double early in the game, but then came to bat in the ninth inning with the Mariners down one and laced a two-run single into the outfield to give his team a lead they would go on to hold. The 22-year-old now has 19 RBI on the season to go along with a .286/.357/.420 slash line. Considering how weak second base is for fantasy leagues, Young has been a really solid pick-up in most league types.

Young launched his third homer of the season with a solo shot off Matthew Liberatore. The 22-year-old also doubled, singled and improved his slash to .255/.342/.398. That’s a respectable enough line, but it’s even better when you consider Young is 22-years-old and already one of the best defensive infielders in baseball.

It was a scoreless game until Young knocked in the automatic runner. He and Julio Rodríguez, who was intentionally walked, later added insurance by scoring on a Josh Naylor single. Young’s triple, which didn’t miss being a homer by much, was the only extra-base hit by either team tonight. It came off Brent Suter, making him 5-for-12 in lefty-lefty matchups to start the season. That’s pretty good from someone who figured to do a lot of sitting against southpaws this year.

Young got enough of a Ryan Weathers’ offering to dump a broken-bat single into right to score Randy Arozarena in the second inning. He’s swung the bat well to begin 2025 with four RBI and a .333/.368/.611 slash over the first five games. Just keep in mind that Colt Emerson is an even more highly-touted prospect, so the leash may be short.

The 22-year-old infielder did his damage in the fourth inning of this one, launching an 0-2 fastball from Gavin Williams for a 367-foot (98.6 mph EV) go-ahead three-run homer. That proved to be all of the run support that George Kirby and company would require in this one. That was his only hit on the evening and his only knock through his first six at-bats on the season thus far.

The 22-year-old second baseman is coming off of a very impressive Cactus League season. He’s expected to function in the strong side of a platoon for the M’s, though that role could expand while J.P. Crawford is shelved, which could allow him to carve out some deep league fantasy value. He’s the full alignment that manager Dan Wilson will send out on Opening Day: Brendan Donovan (3B), Cal Raleigh (C), Julio Rodriguez (CF), Josh Naylor (1B), Randy Arozarena (LF), Luke Raley (RF), Dominic Canzone (DH), Cole Young (2B) and Leo Rivas (SS).