TACOMA \u2013 With the rain steadily falling for most of the afternoon at Cheney Stadium, turning the infield tarp into a small lake of water that resisted the effort of the pumps trying to remove it, the prospect of playing Wednesday night seemed slim.<\/p>\n
And if the Rainiers did play, the start was almost certainly going to be delayed.<\/p>\n
It would have been easy for Colt Emerson to maybe spend a little extra time relaxing in the clubhouse and perhaps catch a power nap with on-field pregame work being canceled. Instead, he did the opposite. It was an opportunity to get more work done in the batting cages and some extra time in the weight room.<\/p>\n
And that work was going to be first before he talked about himself with the media. He already eschewed having a news conference in Seattle on Tuesday so he could play in the Rainiers\u2019 home opener.<\/p>\n
A day after signing the largest contract for a minor league player without any MLB experience, Emerson was still no closer to the big leagues. The Mariners were in the midst of losing the series finale to the Yankees at T-Mobile Park as he went about his pregame work 40 miles to the south.<\/p>\n
Not being there didn\u2019t seem to faze him. He embraces the often repeated saying, \u201cBe where your feet are.\u201d And his feet were currently in the soppy conditions of Tacoma. Worrying about when he will be called up to the Mariners would interrupt his daily preparation for being ready to play every night. He has no time for such distractions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just worried about winning,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to be a winning player wherever I\u2019m at. And right now, I\u2019m in Tacoma, so I\u2019m going to be a winning player here.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the news broke early Tuesday morning that the Mariners and Emerson were in agreement on an eight-year, $95 million contract that features a no-trade clause, a club option for a ninth year and escalators and incentives that could push the deal to $130 million, the baseball world seemed relatively stunned. It was a massive investment for a 20-year-old, who has played less than 50 games above the Class A level.<\/p>\n
The Mariners and Emerson\u2019s representatives from ACES Baseball had been working on the deal for roughly under a month. It was a process without many hiccups.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great,\u201d Emerson said in sort of an opening statement. \u201cIt\u2019s a really good feeling to get it done. I want to thank the Mariners. It went super smooth. And I want to thank everybody that helped me along the way, including (my) agency, everybody like that. Yeah, it feels really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he added \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, all that matters is really winning,\u201d he said. \u201cI know I\u2019m still in Triple-A, so right now, just kind of doing everything that I can control. I can\u2019t control when I\u2019m called up. I\u2019m just worried about winning down here right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why do this now? Many players with his prospect pedigree and professional potential would bet on themselves to make even more money after a few successful seasons at the MLB level or even waiting until free agency. Emerson isn\u2019t typical to that sort of mindset.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m being honest, I love Seattle. I love this organization. I love the fans. My family loves it here,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s really it. We\u2019re a really great fit. The Mariners fit me and I fit the Mariners, and I\u2019m just happy to spend the next eight to nine years with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emerson, who was selected with the No. 22 pick of the 2023 draft out of Zanesville, Ohio, started last season at High-A Everett. He earned a deserved promotion to Double-A Arkansas and finished off the season by serving as the starting shortstop for Triple-A Tacoma in the Pacific Coast League playoffs.<\/p>\n
In 130 combined games at those three levels, he posted a .285\/.383\/.458 slash line with 28 doubles, six triples, 16 homers, 78 RBIs, 14 stolen bases, 71 walks and 105 strikeouts.<\/p>\n
Emerson felt the fit with the Mariners almost immediately from his first post-draft workout at T-Mobile Park to his first MLB spring training.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I walked into the clubhouse, the way the guys supported me, the way the fans supported me, the way the coaches supported me, the way the organization has supported me, they\u2019ve made me feel real at home,\u201d he said. \u201cEven though I\u2019m not on the major league team right now, the big leaguers made me feel at home, and it\u2019s been really great. So I am thankful for those guys and this organization for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emerson\u2019s self-effacing personality, his high-level maturity, his tireless work ethic and how he carries himself made him popular with the MLB players.<\/p>\n
And his obvious talent and potential to help the big-league club win also helped him fit in immediately. Players recognize and respect effort and hard work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Colt is universally respected downstairs for how he goes about his business, who he is as a person, the respect he has for his teammates, the way he prepares and his thoughtfulness,\u201d said Jerry Dipoto, president of baseball operations, on Tuesday at T-Mobile Park. \u201cYou can\u2019t not appreciate that, and I know his teammates do. He got rave reviews from the veteran players in the spring. If anyone in our clubhouse is being honest, they\u2019d probably like to have had that when they were 20 as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s indicative since none of his Rainiers teammates have given him a hard time about his newfound wealth. They haven\u2019t even demanded that he pick up a dinner check \u2026 yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just finalized it yesterday,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t even have any of that money in my account right now. Nobody has said anything. It\u2019s been great. Everybody\u2019s been really great and respectful on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TACOMA \u2013 With the rain steadily falling for most of the afternoon at Cheney Stadium, turning the infield…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2392],"tags":[5,620,4,619,65,3235],"class_list":{"0":"post-663416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-mariners","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mariners","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-seattle","12":"tag-seattle-mariners","13":"tag-seattlemariners"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116348489913775047","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}