Mariners prospect Felnin Celesten adds rare feat to breakout season

Seattle Mariners prospect Felnin Celesten added a rare feat to his breakout season with the High-A Everett AquaSox on Thursday.

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Celesten, who’s ranked as the No. 7 prospect in the organization by MLB Pipeline and No. 8 by Baseball America, hit for the cycle in the AquaSox’s 9-5 win over the Eugene Emeralds at PK Park in Eugene, Ore.

And he needed just seven innings to do so as the team’s played a shortened game due to it being a part of a doubleheader.

The 20-year-old shortstop started off his day with a line-drive RBI single to left field in the first inning. In the third, he crushed a solo home run to straightaway center field. And he picked up his double in the fifth inning with a well-struck ball the other way that hit off the wall in left-center field.

Then came the hardest part of the cycle – the triple – which Celesten collected in dramatic fashion.

In what would be his final at-bat in the seventh, Celesten pulled a groundball down the first base line with two outs on an 0-2 count and raced into third base for the three-bagger.

Thursday’s memorable performance was the latest in a season full of highlights for the prized 2023 international free agent signing.

Celesten, a switch-hitter, went on a 25-game hitting streak earlier in the year. He hit his first career grand slam on June 3. He had also homered in three straight games before going 0 for 5 at the plate on Wednesday, and Thursday’s cycle made it homers in four of five games for the Guaymate, Dominican Republic, native.

Celesten, who missed all of the 2023 season and most of ’24 with injuries, entered Friday slashing .320/.412/.530 with a .942 OPS, 11 homers, 15 doubles, two triples and 17 stolen bases in 65 games this season. His 11 homers are nearly twice the six he hit over 104 games across the Single-A and High-A levels last season.

When Celesten signed with the Mariners in January 2023, he was viewed as having perhaps the highest ceiling of any prospect in the organization. He’s begun to show why this year.

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