The drumbeat is growing louder for the Seattle Mariners to promote top prospect Cole Young to the big-league roster.
Adam Jude of the Seattle Times is the latest to make the call after seeing Young on Thursday night with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. Young went 1-for-3 with a walk-off fielders' choice in the Rainiers win over Salt Lake.
Since May 1, the left-handed-hitting Young has tormented Triple-A pitching with a .370 batting average, a .466 on-base percentage and an 1.146 OPS, with a 190 wRC+ (100 is average) and nearly twice as many walks (15) as strikeouts (8) over his last 118 plate appearances.
And, yes, he’s doing so as a 21-year-old shortstop/second baseman, the youngest hitter in the Pacific Coast League. Young’s 11.8% strikeout rate is fourth-lowest in the PCL and his 12.3% walk rate ranks in the top 25.
Since May 1, meanwhile, Mariners second basemen have posted a .233/.294/.349 slash line (.643 OPS) with a 90 wRC+.
Why the Mariners should call up top prospect Cole Young right now:https://t.co/Zb4Ek5nVPv
— Adam Jude (@A_Jude) May 30, 2025
Jude's case is fairly strong, especially as the Mariners' offense flails across the board lately. Seattle was shut out on Wednesday by the Washington Nationals and failed to capitalize on multiple scoring opportunities on Thursday in a 9-3, extra-inning loss.
The M's have lost five of their last seven games.
The organization obviously doesn't want to put too much pressure on Young and wants to give him the best chance to succeed, and there are roster questions to deal with if he is promoted, including what happens to Jorge Polanco, Ben Williamson, Miles Mastrobuoni, Dylan Moore and Leo Rivas.
We examined more of those here.
The Mariners sit at 30-25 and are just 0.5 games up on the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West. They'll take on the Minnesota Twins at 7:10 p.m. PT on Friday.
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!