Seattle Mariners Make Big Plans with Regards to Top Prospects at Spring Training
The Seattle Mariners have invited top prospects Cole Young and Harry Ford to major league spring training and the plan for each player is reportedly coming into focus.
Per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com:
Cole Young hasn't just been invited to his first big league Spring Training -- he's also expected to play quite a bit. And for Harry Ford, who's exclusively been a catcher, there's a good chance he sees infield reps.
Young and Ford are the top two prospects in the Mariners system, checking in at No. 37 and No. 38 in the MLB Top 100.
Young was a first-round pick of the Mariners in the 2022 draft out of the high school ranks and hit .277 last season across multiple A-Ball levels. He had 11 homers, 62 RBI and smacked 34 doubles.
The following comes from his MLB.com prospect profile:
Young has shown an exciting ability to hit the ball hard to all fields from the left side of the plate. He has impressive contact skills, striking out in less than 15 percent of his plate appearances in 2023 while drawing nearly as many walks. He’s added a good amount of strength since being drafted and is approaching average power as he’s learned to turn on pitches, with confidence that some of the 34 doubles he hit in 2023 will reach the seats in the future.
Ford is a similar story for Seattle, taken out of the high school ranks in the 2021 draft. He starred for team Great Britain in the 2023 World Baseball Classic and hit .257 for High-A Everett with 15 homers and 67 RBI after that. With Cal Raleigh firmly entrenched at catcher, perhaps infield is the way to get Ford into the big leagues easier. Outside of JP Crawford at shortstop, the team has no long-term answers in the infield.
Per MLB.com:
The right-handed-hitting backstop will be just 21 for the entirety of the 2024 season and has already shown some serious offensive ability. He has a very advanced approach at the plate, finishing third among all Minor League hitters in 2023 with 103 walks. There’s at least above-average power he’s still learning to tap into, and he can drive the ball to all fields. He’s a plus runner who swiped 47 bags over his first two full seasons of pro ball, and he has 20-20 potential at the highest level.
The Mariners are coming off a season in which they went 88-74 and missed the playoffs by 1.0 game.
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