Passan: Cole Young ‘absolutely a gift’ for Mariners

The Seattle Mariners haven’t gotten the performance they expected from some of their biggest bats this season, but second baseman Cole Young has been a major bright spot.

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The 22-year-old Young is enjoying a breakout sophomore campaign in the big leagues where he’s been arguably the club’s most valuable position player.

He’s batting .248 with a .703 OPS, 13 homers and 14 doubles this season, good for a 103 wRC+. Those numbers don’t quite tell the full story, though, as Young has had a knack for coming through in big situations all year with a .296 batting average and 39 RBIs with runners in scoring position – both team highs.

Young has also taken some big strides on defense with a team-best 10 defensive runs saved, which is first among American League second baseman by a wide margin.

The 2022 first-round pick has shown some remarkable durability along the way. He’s played in all 103 games for the Mariners this season, which is tied with five other players for the most games played in MLB this season. And he’s played all but two innings of those games.

Could Young become the Mariners’ next star?

ESPN’s Jeff Passan isn’t quite so sure of that, but he sees Young as a very valuable member of Seattle’s future moving forward.

“I don’t know that Cole Young is ever going to be a star, but I think his floor is extremely high and there is a lot of value that comes in that,” Passan told Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk during a conversation Tuesday. “When you look at his numbers this year, I’m just looking at Baseball Reference right now, (3.1) wins above replacement already at this point. Like, that’s a really, really good big leaguer.”

Cole Young’s player comp

Brock and Salk co-host Brock Huard asked Passan which MLB players fits best as a player comp for Young. The ESPN insider named a former All-Star whose playing days were over well before Young was born.

“This is a guy who a lot of people think should be in the Hall of Fame actually. And I’m not sure I agree that Lou Whittaker’s a Hall of Famer, I don’t think his peak was ever high enough for that. But to me, what Cole Young can be is the consistent four- or five-win player at second base,” Passan said.

Whittaker was a five-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner and three-time Silver Slugger recipient during his 19-year career with the Detroit Tigers. He racked up 2,369 hits, 244 homers and 420 doubles while batting .276 with a .789 OPS.

“When you have Julio Rodríguez in center field, when you have Cal Raleigh behind the plate, when you have Colt Emerson – who I think is going to be a fundamental part of this team going forward – when you have a bunch of guys who have those higher ceilings, having a four- or five-win second baseman is absolutely a gift,” Passan said.

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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