Arizona Diamondbacks' Top Prospect Provides Cautionary Tale For Seattle Mariners

Why isn't Cole Young being promoted to the Mariners? Perhaps you need to look no further than Jordan Lawler.

Arizona Diamondbacks player Jordan Lawlar (10) slides in safely at home plate to score a run against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Chase Field in Phoenix on May 27, 2025. | Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Seattle Mariners' top prospect Cole Young put together a massive five-hit night for Triple-A Tacoma on Wednesday, and with the M's offense struggling, the calls for him to get promoted are growing louder and louder.

However, perhaps the Arizona Diamondbacks' top prospect, Jordan Lawlar, serves as a cautionary tale and a reminder to the M's about the perils of promoting top prospects.

Lawlar is ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the sport by MLB Pipeline and is hitting .336 at Triple-A this season. He went 0-for-19 in eight games at the big league level and was sent back down Thursday by Arizona, showing that even red-hot prospects aren't instant successes at the next level.

Top prospect Jordan Lawlar has been optioned to Triple-A by the Diamondbacks, per @Gambo987.

The 22-year-old went 0-for-19 after being recalled on May 12th by Arizona. pic.twitter.com/UlkXUvA1s5

— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) May 29, 2025

For comparison, Young is hitting .277 this season and is the No. 43 prospect in baseball. Perhaps the M's just don't want to put Young through the major leagues until they know he's ready, and they don't think 52 games at Triple-A is enough to say that yet.

(Shoutout to @StoicMsfan on social media for giving us the article idea):

I want to see Cole Young promoted, but for the "can't be worse than current guys" people, Jordan Lawlar was having a better season in the same league as Cole Young is a top 5-10 prospect and a year older. Went 0-19 https://t.co/puEbeafWKl

— Stoic M's Fan (@StoicMsFan) May 29, 2025

There's also the issue of roster construction and how Young fits into the big-league roster, which we wrote about here.

As for the Mariners themselves, they enter play Thursday at 30-24 overall and in first place in the American League West. They lead the Houston Astros by 0.5 games and will take on the Washington Nationals Thursday at 6:40 p.m. PT.

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