Colt

Emerson

Emerson singled and stole a base in the second inning, then collected his second hit with a single in the fifth. With the bases loaded in the seventh, he knocked his third hit of the day to drive in two runs. The 20-year-old infielder is hitting .218/.295/.454 with seven homers, 15 runs scored, and 19 RBI across 132 plate appearances.

The 20-year-old phenom got the Mariners on the board and evened the score at a run apiece with a 361-foot (104.0-mph EV) solo shot off of Joey Cantillo in the third inning. He then walked in the sixth inning but was cut down trying to steal second base. Emerson also walked in the eighth inning and scored on an RBI knock by Julio Rodríguez. With his 1-for-2 night, Emerson is now slashing .212/.293/.481 with seven homers, 17 RBI and one stolen base in his first 115 plate appearances.

Emerson clobbered a 402-foot drive to straightaway center field that Pirates outfielder Jake Mangum somehow managed to corral with an excellent leaping grab. It certainly would’ve gone for extra-bases and was just a few feet from leaving the yard altogether. The 20-year-old top prospect continues to hit near the bottom of Seattle’s lineup and has hit a real rough patch recently, batting .168 (8-for-48) with three homers over his last 15 games. He’s just 2-for-20 over his last seven contests.

At .220/.290/.495 with six homers in 28 games, Emerson’s big-league career is still off to a fine start. However, Statcast thinks he’s been extremely lucky to have six homers and three barrels and 20 hits with 17 hard-hit balls. His strikeout rate is up to 31 percent after tonight, and it seems unlikely that he’ll turn into a reliable mixed-league option until 2027 at the earliest.

Emerson smacked a two-out RBI single off of Shane Baz in the opening inning that extended the Mariners’ early lead to 3-0. That would wind up being the extent of the offense in the game. He also swiped second base, but the M’s were unable to cash him in from there. The 20-year-old phenom has held his own so far, hitting .235/.309/.529 with six homers, 16 RBI and one stolen base in his first 94 plate appearances.

As expected, Crawford returns to Seattle’s lineup for Tuesday’s series opener against the Orioles. The 31-year-old impending free agent wound up requiring a minimum stay on the injured list with a right hand contusion. He’ll split time with top prospect Colt Emerson at shortstop and could even wind up seeing time at third base over the final few months of the year.

Emerson’s only hit of the game left the yard as he took Cade Cavalli deep for a two-run blast in the fifth inning. The 20-year-old infielder is already up to six homers and 14 RBI while hitting .233/.309/.575 across 81 plate appearances, proving to have very real power despite a high strikeout rate early in his rookie season.

Emerson took a high Zack Littell fastball and deposited it in the right-center field stands, 407 feet away, to make it 5-0 Mariners early. The power has played so far for the rookie as he’s hitting .232/.312/.551 with five homers in his first 69 at-bats. The Mariners look smarter everyday for locking him up to an extension this offseason, though he probably won’t be a full fantasy force until he hits his way further up the order.

He had missed the last three games with a back injury. Emerson is hitting .242/.319/.548 with four homers in his first 19 games and can be plugged back in lineups in leagues with daily transactions.

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.