Lightning-fast rise for Mariners' No. 2 prospect

This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SEATTLE -- Cole Young stood on the T-Mobile Park sidelines last week and marveled at the sight in front of him, not just for how far he’s come in a short stretch, but also for how much closer this venue is to becoming his home.

A little more than one year ago, Seattle’s first-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft was here taking batting practice and doing a full pregame workout with the big league team, as is custom for high Draft selections shortly after they join their organization. But on this July afternoon, Young was dressed in street clothes, mingling in a much more informal setting as part of High-A Everett making the 30-mile trek down for its annual visit.

Young is Seattle’s No. 2 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 56 overall. He’d been promoted to Everett from Single-A Modesto just three days prior to the visit, and he was still soaking in the surreal nature of taking that step.

“Last year, I hadn’t played a game of pro ball yet,” Young said. “I’m a completely different player, just a lot more experience.”

Young even looked the part of a Pacific Northwesterner, with a dark-green top, black joggers, a backwards cap and a bushy new goatee that added a little maturity to the 19-year-old's overall youthful appearance.

Taken with the No. 21 overall pick in 2022, Young isn’t necessarily on a fast track to the Majors, at least compared to Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday, who’s already crushing homers in Double-A. But Young is the quickest high school position player to advance to High-A of any of the names selected by president of baseball Jerry Dipoto’s front office since he took over after the '15 season.

Young received the promotion after just 78 games at Modesto and just 13 months after he was drafted. The closest comp would be Harry Ford, who spent all of 2022 at Modesto (104 games) then broke camp this spring with Everett, where he’s been since.

The Mariners have mostly kept their high school selections at the Arizona Complex League for the rest of the summer after they’re drafted, but Young was a rare exception last year, earning a promotion to Modesto at the end of the season to jumpstart his pro career.

“It's super important to take care of your body every single day, taking care of your mind every single day -- because it's such a long season,” Young said. “I realized it after the first game, I was like, 'This season is super long.' I'm still learning every day what I need to be doing each day, but yeah, I'm just trying to develop a routine that works best for me.”

Behind the scenes, some have suggested that because of his polished hit tool and advanced strike-zone awareness, Young could move quickly through the system -- potentially being on the MLB doorstep as early as next season's tail end. Many things, obviously, would have to go right for that to happen, but Young's early-career trajectory has him on a promising path.

At Modesto, Young hit .267/.396/.429 (.825 OPS) with five homers, seven triples, 20 doubles, 48 RBIs, 60 runs scored and 17 stolen bases. Entering this week at Everett, he was 14-for-35 with three homers, good for a gaudy slash line of .400/.523/.800 (1.323 OPS). Those numbers will almost certainly come down, but they're nonetheless impressive.

“I would say that it's learning the pitches where I can do damage on,” Young said. “Seeing different pitchers, it just helps.”

Where his glove sticks long term will be of as much intrigue as his progression. Young is primarily a shortstop, but he's been handed more playing time at second base, a position in which Seattle has lacked clarity -- and production -- since trading Robinson Canó after 2018.

“There have been times this year where I've tried to look ahead into the future, and it just doesn't work out if I'm not patient,” Young said. “The key is to just be grateful for everything, take things day by day and just work hard.”