The Road to The Show™: Mariners’ Young

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken toward achieving his Major League dream. Here's a look at top Mariners’ prospect Cole Young. For more stories about players on The Road to The Show, click here.

In a little more than a year in professional baseball, Cole Young has embodied the Mariners’ organizational philosophy of “dominating the zone.”

Seattle’s top prospect has used his 60-grade hitting ability to maintain control at the plate even as he’s ascended to High-A Everett. Across two levels in his first full season, Young is batting .278/.400/.451 with 52 extra-base hits and 61 RBIs. He’s also drawn nearly as many walks (85) as strikeouts (88).

He had a strong start to the season with Single-A Modesto but has actually hit for a higher average (.295) and OPS (.897) since being promoted, despite being more than three years younger than the average Northwest League player.

The organization, particularly general manager Jerry Dipoto, became enamored with Young’s swing as an amateur, calling it “one of the prettiest swings in the Draft.” The lefty-swinging middle infielder has echoed the opinions of scouts who compare his style of play to All-Star Adam Frazier, who was with the Mariners when Young was drafted.

There’s belief that he’ll be able to hit for more power as he matures and gets stronger in his six-foot, 180-pound frame. He’s already shown an ability to use the whole field and a tremendous feel for the game on both sides of the ball.

“Cole always seems to be in control of the moment,” Mariners director of player development Justin Toole told MLB.com in April. “He’s a slow heartbeat kind of guy. He doesn’t let things speed up on him. … He’s a gamer who controls the zone well.

“He’s not afraid to take his walks. He makes great swing decisions, which leads to good productive contact when he gets a pitch he likes. Very exciting player for us who we feel has a very bright future.”

The Pittsburgh native first took the national stage at just 10 years old when he won his age group’s division in the Pitch, Hit & Run program during the All-Star Game at Minnesota’s Target Field in 2014. He later attended North Allegheny High School and hit the showcase circuit with the Canes National Scout Team, where he played alongside Red Sox prospect Roman Anthony and Mets prospect Ryan Clifford at the 2021 WWBA World Championship at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.

Young was committed to play at Duke before the 2022 Draft. He ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 20 Draft prospect and was already lauded for his bat-to-ball skills. The Mariners’ selected Young with the No. 21 overall pick and signed him for a reported $3.3 million bonus, which was slightly above slot value.

While the club doesn’t typically challenge high school draftees with full-season ball, Young moved exceptionally quickly in his first professional action. He made short work of the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League, earning a promotion after just seven games, where he went 7-for-21 (.333) at the plate.

Just months after graduating high school, Young went hitless in his first nine at-bats with Single-A Modesto. But he settled in and went 15-for-30 (.500), including his first two professional homers, to close out the year.

MLB Pipeline’s No. 38 overall prospect had a strong start to the season when he returned to Modesto this April, batting .316 with eight doubles and four triples over his first 25 games. He then hit a difficult stretch, where he batted .209 in a 28-game span, but got hot again before his promotion at the All-Star break. Overall, he batted .267 with 54 walks and 52 strikeouts for Modesto.

Young then headed to Everett alongside the club’s No. 3 prospect, Gabriel Gonzalez, who was hitting .348 for Modesto at the time. The duo joined second-ranked Mariners prospect Harry Ford with the AquaSox to create one of the more interesting lineups in the Minors.

The Mariners took a big hit to their prospect depth after trading two Top 100 shortstops, Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo, in the Luis Castillo deal at last year’s deadline. But Young and 2023 first-rounder Colt Emerson – another prep shortstop from the Rust Belt who earned a promotion to Modesto after the Draft – already seem to fill that void pretty well.