The first big moment in the major league career of Colt Emerson came Monday night when the Seattle Mariners’ top prospect roped a three-run home run for his first MLB hit in a 6-1 win over the Chicago White Sox.
Brock: Colt Emerson gives Seattle Mariners a needed defensive boost
While it was the first plate appearance in Emerson’s two big league games thus far to result in a hit, it wasn’t his first impressive trip to the batter’s box for the M’s. In fact, they’ve honestly all been impressive.
In seven plate appearances to date, Emerson has seen a combined 39 pitches, and he’s seen at least five pitches in each of them. Only one of those PAs ended up in a strikeout, and that was a technicality as it was a weak popup behind the plate that White Sox catcher Drew Romo had to stand up, turn around and scramble to catch.
The one that really stands out is the at-bat that ended on his homer, as Emerson worked back from falling down 0-2 by watching two balls, then fouling off two pitches before digging out an 81 mph changeup from Chicago reliever Trevor Richards and sending it for a line drive out of the park.
Seattle Sports’ Mike Salk said the quality of Emerson’s plate appearances have been “pretty astounding” considering the talented infielder is just 20 years old.
“From what I’ve seen in two games, his hands are so quick, his eye is great, and going up against major league pitching for the first time, he might have offered the best at-bat I’ve seen from a Mariner in the last three weeks,” Salk said on Tuesday’s edition of Brock and Salk.
This is all part of why Emerson rose up prospect rankings at an extreme rate in the year after the Mariners drafted him 22nd overall out of high school in the 2023 MLB Draft, and why there are high hopes for his future in Seattle.
“All of that at 20 years old is the thing,” ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan said in response to Salk. “There are just some guys who have it, and they have it really early on in their career and you can tell. And one at-bat, the one you just mentioned, can really I think set the tone for what the player can be. You want a guy who can battle. You want a guy who’s going to be able to spit on close pitches. You want a guy who can spoil balls. You want a guy who has any of those qualities, and Colt Emerson has all of them.”
There’s a valuable secondary impact that Emerson’s plate appearances will have for the M’s.
“That’s the exciting part about it, because you know that those are the at-bats that just absolutely wear down pitchers – not just physically, but psychologically,” Passan continued. “If you have this premium stuff – which I would say a majority of pitchers in the big leagues these days do, just really good, like nasty stuff – and you can’t put a guy away, not only is that at-bat going to extend six, seven, eight, nine, 10-plus pitches, it’s going to have a demonstrable effect on the ones that come after it too. And when you can get that from somebody who can’t take a drink legally at this point, you know you’re looking at something potentially really special.”
Passan believes there’s a high ceiling for Emerson in the big leagues, which will raise the Mariners’ own ceiling.
“To me, Colt Emerson, if he settles in the 20-25 home run area, puts the ball in play a lot, plays a decent – I know he’s at third base right now but he’s a shortstop long term – plays a good shortstop, then you’re talking about a franchise-type player there. When you have one already in center field (Julio Rodríguez) and when you have one already behind the plate (Cal Raleigh), that’s how great teams are built.”
ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan joins Brock and Salk at 8:30 a.m. each Tuesday during the baseball season. Catch Brock and Salk from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.
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• Colt Emerson on Seattle Mariners debut: ‘I’ll remember this forever’
