Mariners' Colt Emerson may be growing into surprising power potential

Adam Jude, The Seattle Times on Jun 13, 2026

Published in Baseball

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WASHINGTON — Two weeks after his 18th birthday, Colt Emerson made his professional debut on Aug. 4, 2023, for the Mariners’ rookie-ball affiliate in Arizona.

His first professional hit that day was an opposite-field home run, a 110-mph blast out to left field.

The following spring, on the very first swing of the first game of his first full season as a pro, he smacked another home run for the Mariners’ Low-A affiliate.

His first major league hit for the Mariners last month?

A home run, naturally.

On Friday night, the 20-year-old Emerson clubbed the longest home run of his young big league career, a 407-foot blast out to right-center during the Mariners’ 10-2 rout of the Nationals.

It was Emerson’s third homer in June and already his fifth in just 21 major league games.

And, lo and behold, Emerson hit another one on Saturday afternoon, turning on a 97.9-mph fastball from Nationals starter Cade Cavalli, up and in on an 0-2 offering, and pulled a no-doubter 386 feet into the second deck in right field. That tied the score at 3-3 in the fifth inning.

“Growing up, my thing was just go gap to gap and hit doubles,” Emerson said early Saturday. “Everybody said, ‘Oh, those doubles are (eventually) going to turn into home runs.’ I think what’s happening now is I’m starting to get stronger, starting to get a little bit older and starting to put the barrel on the ball.”

The Mariners knew Emerson’s hit tool was elite. They wouldn’t have signed him to a record-setting contract extension worth up to $130 million if that wasn’t the case.

But the power potential the 6-foot, 195-pound shortstop has shown so early has to be a pleasant surprise.

“We knew he was a special player, but to see the power come this quickly like that is impressive,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said.

It’s still a small sample size — 79 plate appearances — but among Mariners hitters this season Emerson ranks No. 1 with a .592 slugging percentage. Emerson surpassed Dominic Canzone (.564) after his fifth-inning homer Saturday.

Of Emerson’s first 17 major league hits, 12 have gone for extra bases — six homers, five doubles and one triple.

Emerson’s six home runs are the third-most in franchise history before a player’s 21st birthday, behind Ken Griffey Jr. (38) and Alex Rodriguez (26).

Emerson will turn 21 on July 20.

“I’m just trying to do what the game calls for,” he said. “Just trying to put together the best at-bats, you know. I’m not being leaned on to try to do everything and be Superman. So I think having that in my mind, like, kind of helped me. There’s a bunch of stars on this team, there’s a bunch of great players.”

He’s impressed teammates with how well he’s fitting in during his first month in the major leagues.

“He’s a stud,” veteran catcher Mitch Garver said earlier in the week. “He does all the (stuff) that you’re supposed to do as a rookie that doesn’t seem important anymore (for everyone). He’s the first one here. He hits the cage right away. He studies film. He takes his ground balls and is out there doing extra work.

“For a lot of guys, this is the get (stuff) done league. But for a player like (Emerson), he should be in Double-A. But he’s here doing all the extra stuff he should be doing — that’s maturity.”

Emerson has embraced this team’s lofty aspirations, too.

“I’ve got big goals, big expectations,” he said. “From Day 1, this team’s expectation is to win, and I’m following that. I’m a competitor. I want to win. I hate losing. So I’m going to go out there and just give it my all every single time. That’s just what I’m going to do. It should be what’s expected of me, and that’s what I expected of myself.”

The hitter he is now, he said, is the hitter he’s always tried to be.

“From the time I got into the Mariners org, they just preached that the guys who have success at the next level are the guys who don’t change their identity when they get there,” Emerson said. “I just feel like I put a real emphasis on not changing who I am as a person, as a player. Just going out there and being the hitter I am, and not really diving into too much of the analytics or all the information. Because I do better when I’m not thinking.”