Seattle Mariners Second Base Battle May Be Nearing A Clear Winner

For a while, second base felt a little blurry. Let camp play out and let the competition breathe. But this is starting to look a lot more like Seattle is quietly landing on its answer. Daniel Kramer’s latest Opening Day roster projection for MLB.com slotted Cole Young at second base and said he has “seized the opportunity” this spring, which is exactly the kind of language you use for a job that’s won.

The Mariners need second base to stop being a problem. Which is exactly why Young has become such an interesting player in this conversation. Kramer went as far as to say there may not be another hitter on the roster who could raise Seattle’s offensive floor more in 2026, and that gets to the heart of this whole thing.

Cole Young goes 3-for-5 with a double and a home run, Brock Rodden went yard and José A. Ferrer punches out a pair of batters in today’s game.

Emerson Hancock gets the start in tomorrow’s game at 1:05 p.m. pic.twitter.com/W8UuWtkvhW
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) March 11, 2026

Cole Young Is Making Mariners’ Second Base Decision Look Easier

The spring production has done plenty of the talking. Going into March 13 weekend, Young was hitting .273 with a 1.065 OPS, four home runs, 11 RBI, and two steals in 33 Cactus League at-bats, giving him one of the loudest statistical cases on the roster. Earlier in camp, he crushed a two-run homer on March 1, and on March 11 he followed an RBI double with a go-ahead homer. This has not been one nice day buried in a bunch of quiet ones. The damage has kept showing up.

More importantly, this doesn’t feel fluky. He’s not floating through March on a lucky batting average and a couple of wind-aided swings. The quality of contact has looked real, and the confidence has too. A few months ago, the conversation was about whether Young had done enough to hold the job. Now it is starting to sound like the Mariners are expecting him to take it back.

Young’s 2025 rookie year came with flashes, but it also came with enough rough edges to make the position feel unsettled. Young hit .059/.169/.118 from Aug. 16 through Sept. 28 and eventually lost regular run. He looked overmatched at times, especially against breaking stuff, and there were defensive hiccups mixed in there too. So this spring is about whether the player looks more prepared for the everyday version of the job. Right now, he does.

And if we are being honest, the Mariners kind of need that to be true. This lineup already asks a lot from its stars. The Mariners need another player who can get on base, keep innings alive, and give the top of the order a cleaner runway when the lineup turns over. Young just has to be stable, useful, and occasionally dangerous.

Technically this may still be called a second-base battle. Leo Rivas and Colt Emerson are still in the mix. But it is getting harder to pretend it looks like one. The Mariners may not have announced anything, and spring always leaves room for a twist, but the shape of this is becoming pretty clear.