Seattle Mariners Top Prospect Draws Comparisons to Star Julio Rodriguez

Felnin Celesten is one of the top prospects in baseball, and M's coaches think there are parallels to J-Rod, who won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 2022.

Seattle Mariners centerfielder Julio Rodriguez (44) celebrates in the dugout after scoring a run during the seventh inning against the Oakland Athletics at T-Mobile Park in 2024. | Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

Seattle Mariners infield prospect Felnin Celesten is drawing comparisons to superstar outfielder Julio Rodriguez, which is certainly exciting for M's fans.

Still just 19, Celsten is ranked as the No. 74 prospect in the sport, per MLB Pipeline. Though he's dealt with injuries that have limited him to just 32 games at the Complex League level, there are thoughts that Celesen could arrive in the big leagues sooner rather than later. If he comes anything close to what Rodriguez has become, that would be a huge win for the organizaton. Rodriguez is one of the top young players in the sport and won the Rookie of the Year award in 2022.

Per Baseball America, which profiled Celesten this week:

It isn’t often a player as young as Celesten shows such promise and polished skills. In fact, (minor league hitting coordinator C.J.) Gillman could only think of one other player he has worked with who has stood out at such a young age. 

“Just Julio (Rodriguez),” Gillman said. “Julio is a pretty solid example of a guy who was obviously a very good player the whole time, but just continually got better. You don’t know when the popcorn is going to pop, but you look at it and you know it’s coming.”

Mariners Want Felnin Celesten To Take Things One Day At A Timehttps://t.co/7qcawLrUsY pic.twitter.com/q8uWDjkfjH

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) February 8, 2025

The Mariners are loaded with infield prospects, including Celesten, Cole Young and Colt Emerson. Young figures to be the first to arrive in Seattle and could be there by mid-summer this year. Emerson would figure to come next in 2026 with Celesten arriving last. Rodriguez made his major league debut at age 21 and Jackson Chourio (Brewers) arrived at 19, so there's certainly a chance that Celesten accelerates the process, but he's going to have to stay healthy and get some experience under his belt.

He's a .352 hitter in those 32 professional games and is likely ticketed for Low-A Modesto at the start of the year.

The Mariners report to spring training next week.

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