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Cole Young
Cole Young
Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 45 | Run: 55 | Arm: 55 | Field: 50 | Overall: 55
After taking college pitchers in the first round three years in a row from 2018 to 2020, the Mariners turned their attention to high school hitters for the next three Drafts, starting with Harry Ford in 2021 and most recently, Colt Emerson in 2023. Sandwiched between those two prep standouts was Young, taken No. 21 overall in 2022 from the Pittsburgh area. In his year-plus in pro ball, Young hasn’t looked like a raw high schooler from a cold-weather region, using his advanced feel for hitting to perform well across two levels of A ball in his first full season of pro ball.
Young has shown an exciting ability to hit the ball hard to all fields from the left side of the plate. He has impressive contact skills, striking out in less than 15 percent of his plate appearances in 2023 while drawing nearly as many walks. He’s added a good amount of strength since being drafted and is approaching average power as he’s learned to turn on pitches, with confidence that some of the 34 doubles he hit in 2023 will reach the seats in the future.
A smart and aggressive above-average runner, Young has enough range and arm to play shortstop for a long time. He’s seen some time on the right side of second to provide some positional versatility, something that could come in handy since his advanced bat looks like it could get him to Seattle sooner rather than later. - mlbpipeline.com
I closed his mouth before making the facegen. Put him on the actual Mariners though and he'll smile...
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