In 2022, there was a clear top story during Seattle Mariners spring training: Julio Rodríguez.

Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh receives another award

The talented outfielder took the Cactus League by storm at all of 21 years old and came out of camp as Seattle’s starting center fielder. By midseason, he was an All-Star. By the fall, he was the American League Rookie of the Year.

The Mariners have a prospect who could be looking to follow in Rodríguez’s footsteps this spring: shortstop Colt Emerson, the No. 9 overall prospect in baseball per MLB.com.

The 20-year-old Emerson has been making waves ever since the Mariners picked him with the No. 22 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, quickly shooting up prospect rankings by the start of the next season. That continued in 2025, as he shined at three different levels: High-A, where he hit .281 with an .842 OPS with the Everett AquaSox; Double-A, where he hit .282 with a .790 OPS in 34 games for the Arkansas Travelers in the pitching-friendly Texas League; and Triple-A, where he went 8 for 22 (.364) with an 1.172 OPS in a six-game stint at the end of the season with the Tacoma Rainiers.

Emerson may not be as well known in the national baseball world as Rodríguez or former M’s prospect Jarred Kelenic were earlier this decade, but that may be about to change.

“Emerson is just going to be one of the biggest stories of spring training,” said Jordan Shusterman, who covers MLB for Yahoo Sports and is half of the Céspedes Family BBQ team that hosts the Baseball Bar-B-Cast podcast, this week to Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.

“… Emerson is one of the best prospects in baseball. He’s not really getting quite the national hype that Julio or Kelenic did, but I think maybe even by the middle of spring training he could be talked about in that way.”

A big reason for that speculation has picked up that Emerson could challenge to break camp with the Mariners in 2026 as the left-handed side of a platoon at third base with Ben Williamson. Emerson should get a good chance in Cactus League play to show what he’s made of, too, as the 2026 World Baseball Classic is expected to feature several Mariners players representing their countries, creating more opportunities for playing time in spring training.

“It really does seem like he’s going to show up to spring training having gotten to Triple-A, still only 20 years old… (and) they’re going to give him every chance to win the job,” Shusterman continued. “Now, that’s a lot to expect of a kid, but he seems to have the right makeup on and off the field to really make something like that happen.”

Hear the full Bump and Stacy conversation with Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Shusterman in the podcast at this link or video at the top of this post. Catch Bump and Stacy live from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

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