Cole Young and Dom Canzone Are Giving the Mariners Their Best Offensive Plot Twist Yet

We have seen the flashes from Cole Young before. But Monday, June 29, was a little different. He recorded his first career multi-homer game in the Mariners’ 6-2 win over the Angels.

It comes at a time where the Mariners have been struggling to get much going on offense. They had just relinquished their hold on first place, and the Angels are coming into the series looking to capitalize on a pretty hampered Seattle team.

The Mariners didn’t need another theoretical offensive solution Monday night. And Young gave them two. His first homer came off Angels starter Ryan Johnson. His second came later against left-hander Mitch Farris, and that one had a little extra juice to it, bouncing off the “Hit It Here Cafe.”

Cole Young has his first career multi-homer game! pic.twitter.com/YQYfxqoxIR
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 30, 2026

Mariners Lefties Threw the Platoon Script Out the Window

Seattle is still looking for answers against left-handed pitching. So, of course, they had two lefties hit home runs off lefties on Monday night as Dom Canzone also joined in on the home run party as he added a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth.

Young entered the night already having a strong season. Through this stretch, Young has posted 2.8 WAR with nine home runs, 40 RBI (tied for the team lead with Julio Rodríguez), and a .260/.321/.392 slash line with a 104 OPS+.

The Mariners have had plenty of players over the years who looked promising in theory. Young is proving that the organization was correct in their internal valuation.

Mariners fans have been begging for Dom Canzone to receive more opportunities. He’s slashing .273/.347/.552 with 13 home runs and 34 RBI. Most of his damage has come against right-handed pitchers, and we know the kind of threat he is there. But even in very limited opportunities against left-handed arms, he’s slashing .238/.429/.524 with two home runs, three RBI and six walks over just 21 at-bats.

Dominic Canzone, absolutely demolished ... left-on-left, and No. 13 of the season.

Exit velo: 108.4 mph
Launch angle: 25°
Distance: 428 ft.
Hang time: 5.2 seconds pic.twitter.com/9WawpN8Stf
— Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) June 30, 2026

It’s a small sample, but it offers enough to be curious about what kind of damage he could do if the Mariners decide to give him some runway there.

There is a version of this story where people call Young a solid young player and move along. That would be underselling it.

This season makes that especially easy to do. The Mariners already struggle to get recognition nationally outside the PNW, and there are plenty of flashier young names soaking up attention around baseball. It’s hard for a Cole Young or a Colt Emerson to gain real traction when Sal Stewart, JJ Wetherholt, Konnor Griffin, Kevin McGonigle, Jac Caglianone, Nick Kurtz and a whole wave of explosive young talent are dominating the conversation.

That doesn’t make Young’s development any less important. It just makes it easier for people outside Seattle to miss what’s happening.

Regardless, the Mariners need this to be the start of something bigger. With Young showing more pull-side damage and more ability to impact the baseball is a major deal for the lineup. Imagine what could happen if Julio heats up, Cal Raleigh starts to look anything close to last season's version of himself, and Josh Naylor gets some consistency. We could be looking at a very different team by season’s end.

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