The Seattle Mariners would have plenty of reason to be excited about the new year regardless, but the arrival of infield prospect Colt Emerson puts that excitement over the top.

There’s no guarantee that Emerson, 20, makes his debut within the first couple months of the regular season. But he’s quite likely to arrive in the majors this year after ascending to Triple-A for the final week of this year’s regular season.

Whether it’s at second base or third, it appears Emerson will have a real opportunity to win a job during spring training, which is an exciting prospect, even if Mariners fans wind up disappointed with the team’s decisions about free-agent signings and trades.

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Emerson’s opportunity to make it to the show

Recently, Mariners president of baseball operations told MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer that the 20-year-old Emerson is more ready for the big leagues than his age would indicate.

“Colt is a grown-up,” Dipoto told Kramer. “He was a grown-up when he was 17, and that much was evident when [former assistant general manager] Andy [McKay] met with him on their family farm, before we ever drafted him. We knew that about his makeup. If you’ve got that walking in the door, it certainly helps.”

The Mariners are also committing to keeping Emerson in big-league spring training camp for the majority of the run time, if not the entire thing. That will be aided by the prospect of several Mariners players participating in the World Baseball Classic.

“He was going to get it anyway, but pretty excited,” Dipoto told Kramer. “I don’t think it’s going to be a two-week cameo in Spring Training and then head back and prepare for your season, like is often the case with some of the younger players. They might be in Spring Training camp from post to post, and that’s a real benefit.”

Emerson, who has always been an excellent pure hitting prospect, came into his own as a power bat with 16 home runs in the minors this past season. That power should only continue to grow as he fills out.

All signs point toward Emerson being an enormous part of the Mariners’ future, but fans should be most excited about finding out how soon that future begins.

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