The Mariners informed rookie shortstop Colt Emerson that he’s being optioned back to Triple-A Tacoma, reports Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. The move comes after Seattle blanked the Yankees 1-0 on Thursday afternoon, avoiding a sweep and ending a six-game losing streak. Divish adds that infielder Brock Rodden will be selected onto the big league roster in his place.
Emerson, who turned 21 last month, was out of the lineup today with the Yankees running an elite left-hander in Max Fried. He made a late-game appearance as a defensive substitute. Emerson wore a golden sombrero in Wednesday’s loss. That pushed his strikeout rate to an untenable 34.4% clip in his first 68 big league games.
One of the sport’s top prospects, Emerson signed an eight-year extension with a $95MM guarantee at the beginning of the season. The Mariners kept him in Triple-A at the time. Seattle promoted him and installed him as the everyday third baseman when Brendan Donovan went on the injured list in the middle of May. An early-June injury to J.P. Crawford allowed Emerson to slide over to shortstop, where he remained even with Crawford’s return to health.
Emerson homered in his second game and had a generally encouraging May. He’s gone sharply downhill since then, batting .205 with a .271 on-base percentage in June. While Emerson at least connected on five homers that month, he has been completely overmatched during the past six weeks. Emerson has hit .157/.185/.196 since the beginning of July, making him the worst offensive player in the league during that stretch.
It simply reached a point where the Mariners couldn’t continue running him out against MLB arms. Emerson is too frequently expanding the strike zone, getting beat within the zone, and not making any hard contact. That comes after a solid but slightly concerning start to the year in Triple-A, where he struck out at a 27% clip while batting .255/.347/.469 over 38 games.
This obviously isn’t how Emerson or the Mariners hoped his rookie year would go. Still, it’s far too early to make any pronouncements about his career. Emerson is the youngest player in the American League and second-youngest hitter in MLB (behind Pittsburgh’s Konnor Griffin). He’s a few months younger than this year’s first overall pick, Roch Cholowsky. If he’d played college ball instead of signing out of high school, Emerson would’ve been a member of this year’s draft class and likely playing in A-ball right now. This is the first time in his career that he’s struggled for an extended period.
Donovan returned last week and is playing regularly at the hot corner. Crawford went back on the injured list in late July with left wrist inflammation. The starting shortstop job will probably go to Leo Rivas until Crawford is healthy. That’s not ideal, as the switch-hitting utility player owns a .130/.258/.167 line without a home run in 130 plate appearances this year. Rivas provided a spark late last season and should draw some walks, but he has minimal power and works so many deep counts that he strikes out a lot.
Rodden could factor into the shortstop mix, though he’s also more of a bench type who’ll bounce around the infield. A fifth-round selection in 2023, Rodden is having a solid year in Tacoma. He’s hitting .262/.342/.499 with 19 homers and eight stolen bases through 410 plate appearances. Rodden is a switch-hitter who has done more damage from the left side of the dish.
Baseball America and MLB Pipeline each list the Wichita State product just inside the top 20 prospects in a deep Seattle system. Both outlets credit him with above-average to plus speed and praise his versatility, but Rodden is a smaller player (listed between 5’7″ and 5’9″) who’s not viewed as having an especially high offensive ceiling. This year’s power production is probably inflated, as Rodden has a modest 34% hard contact rate. MLB Pipeline’s scouting report coincidentally notes the similarities to Rivas.
The Mariners would’ve needed to add Rodden to the 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft this offseason. They’ll take an earlier look and see if he can provide any help to one of the game’s most disappointing teams. The M’s are eight games below .500 and have fallen five back in a winnable AL West. They’re 3.5 out in the Wild Card with six teams to surpass.