00:00I do want to hit on a top 10 prospect, according to Just Baseball, Colt Emerson, who got up for
00:05the Seattle Mariners.
00:06Now, unfortunate circumstances for Emerson, who signed one of those pre-debut extensions.
00:12Colt Emerson has $90 million committed to his name.
00:14They're calling up Just Baseball's number five prospect.
00:18Emerson, in his big league debut on Sunday night baseball, walked, scored a run.
00:23He did not have a hit, but he blasted a home run on Monday night for his first major league
00:29hit.
00:29So Emerson, through his first two ballgames, one for six with a homer and three driven in.
00:35Colt Emerson, in 38 games with AAA Tacoma this year, as a 20-year-old, mind you, seven homers, 26
00:41driven in, 10 stolen bases, hit .255 with an .816 OPS.
00:47Colt Emerson's up because Brendan Donovan hit the shelf with a groin strain.
00:51So, really unfortunate news that your marquee trade acquisition this offseason and Donovan hits the IEL.
00:57Well, it does give you an opportunity to see Emerson right now.
01:01Do you think this is a partial time buyer?
01:04And when Donovan's off the shelf, Emerson goes down?
01:06Or do you think he's just here to stay?
01:08That's the big question.
01:09I think it's going to be a little bit dependent on how Emerson plays.
01:12And I will say, in that first game, he had a couple loud outs, too.
01:16Emerson had some pretty good swings on balls.
01:18And he looks pretty darn comfortable right away.
01:21And I think with the way the Mariners are playing right now and the way that they're struggling is if
01:26Colt Emerson looks like he's a net positive for this team, I think they're going to find a way to
01:31keep him in the lineup there.
01:32And I think the interesting spot with this is that, you know, J.P. Crawford, of course, like he's picked
01:39it up.
01:39He's playing at a high level.
01:40That was an area where we everyone I felt like wanted to relegate and say, hey, Crawford, you're going to
01:45pass the baton.
01:46And Crawford's like, hey, I'm not ready to do that yet.
01:49And he's been one of the more consistent bats for them.
01:52I think at this point, it's going to be kind of hard to find the at bats.
01:58But I think you figure it out and try to find a way if Emerson's playing really well.
02:02But it does still ultimately kind of feel like a bit of a time buyer.
02:05That's what makes these pre-debut extensions weird is because Emerson plays pretty well.
02:10And then Donovan comes back and you option him back down to AAA.
02:13It just feels a little wonkier when it's a guy that has the money committed to him.
02:18But I think the argument with Emerson, too, is that he was a little bit banged up to start the
02:22year.
02:23He's really picked it up over the last couple of weeks.
02:25And we saw that in AAA.
02:27And now he looks settled and ready for a big league debut.
02:30But I think they could probably, you know, hide behind the, hey, a couple other things we wanted to work
02:35on.
02:35We wanted to continue to get more reps at third base, too.
02:38And we'll revisit it.
02:39That said, what do you do, Jack, if he has, you know, 125 WRC plus and he's playing good defense
02:44at third by the time Brendan Donovan comes back?
02:46You keep him in the lineup.
02:48The beauty of Brendan Donovan is he can play a whole bunch of different positions.
02:51And I guess you look at the place where you're not getting production.
02:54Say it's one of the corner outfield spots and Donovan can play there.
02:57Say somebody has a bit of a downturn.
02:59Donovan could play second.
03:01Like, listen, I know there are viable options at literally every spot.
03:04I totally understand that.
03:05But you already have $90 million committed to this guy.
03:09It'd be really hard to justify if he does have a 125 OPS plus.
03:15It'd be really hard to justify having that dude just sit in Tacoma when you've got an underwhelming team, a
03:21couple games under 500, when you have legit World Series aspirations.
03:24I agree.
03:25And maybe in a couple of weeks, some of these things kind of reveal themselves a bit.
03:30It's just Luke Raley's playing out of his mind.
03:32So you're not taking that guy out of the lineup.
03:34Rosa Reina has been really, really solid as well.
03:38So I think the area would be Cole Young, but I still really think that's a good player that you
03:42want to keep in the lineup pretty consistently.
03:44And then maybe can zone slows down a little bit more and you find, you know, some opportunities between those
03:48two guys.
03:49But yeah, I think you also heard the fans.
03:52I mean, Cole Emerson would catch a routine fly ball and the fans are going nuts.
03:56So it's giving the Mariners fans something to get excited about the ceiling.
04:00Obviously, if Emerson, you know, really taps into everything, elevates this, this team as well.
04:05And I think there's, there's a lot to like there.
04:07So yeah, I'm interested to see how long, because you almost, it's one of those things where you want Brennan
04:12Donovan back as soon as possible.
04:14But at the same time, you wouldn't mind a couple of weeks to see this thing through and kind of
04:18see what you got going on here.
04:19And that's going to be the interesting, I think, wrinkle of, of it all.
04:23And I imagine they are going to have a few weeks here, so it'll probably work itself out.
04:28And ultimately the biggest thing is, it's called Emerson settling right away.
04:31He's got the makeup.
04:32He's got the ability to do it.
04:33He's way ahead of his years.
04:34I've seen that from watching him play.
04:36I've heard that from everybody that I've been able to talk to in the Mariners organization.
04:40They think the world of this 20-year-old, and understandably so, he's gotten better in every facet of his
04:44game.
04:44Every time you check in with maybe the most impressive aspect being his defense, how much that has improved the
04:50power to, this is a really good player.
04:52Whether he is great out of the gate or not, this is a huge piece of the Mariners future, obviously.
04:57And that's why they gave him that much money.
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