Yesterday in the Moose Tracks, commenter Search4honor posed this question:
For those who were here before the 2022 season. Is the way Colt Emerson is being talked about prior to spring training the same as Julio Rodríguez?
As someone who contributed significantly to the way in which Julio Rodríguez was talked about as a young prospect, this is something that caught my eye. I first met Julio as a 17-year-old, anxious to practice his English in one of his first stateside interviews, outside the complex in Peoria. By the next year, Julio was interacting with fans, sitting in the stands at spring training games and surprising fans with merch from the Mariners team store. There’s something about Julio that always felt inevitable, a storm brewing from the DSL complex to a tour of small-town America, gathering steam until he arrived in Seattle in 2022 as the Rookie of the Year.
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By contrast, Colt Emerson’s ascent has been quieter. While Julio had to share the prospect spotlight with Jarred Kelenic, the two of them always vying for gold vs. silver in the system rankings, it was always the two of them, a significant gap, and then everyone else. Emerson, on the other hand, might be the Mariners’ de facto top prospect at most outlets, but he shares the Mariners top ten with a raft of other Top-100 prospects. Like Cole Young before him, Emerson also suffers somewhat from the “jack of all trades, master of none” label, lacking a standout skill – like Julio’s prodigious power, or at least the kind of skill that generates breathless highlight reels on social media.
It’s understandable: Julio was in conversation for the top prospect spot in all of baseball with fellow wunderkinds Adley Rutschman, who plays the hardest position on a baseball diamond, and five-tool player Bobby Witt Jr. Emerson isn’t in those kinds of conversations nationally, especially not as a shortstop in a deep prospect class for the position. The top four prospects on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 are all shortstops: Konnor Griffin (PIT), Kevin McGonigle (DET), Jesus Madé (MIL) and Leo De Vries (Athletics). (Emerson lands at number nine, behind another two infielders, JJ Wetherholt and Sebastian Wolcott.)
The context the Mariners were in at the time also bears mentioning. When Julio was on his way up, the Mariners were deep in a stepback, and the bright but distant star of Julio twinkling on the horizon soothed many Mariners fans after another grueling loss. However, now that wave of prospects has crested and is contributing at the big-league level. Emerson, on the other hand, feels like a complementary piece rather than a rising tide that lifts all the boats – but is that a fair characterization considering Emerson’s track of minor-league success so far? Or, as JasonRyan put it: Julio had to be better than everyone; Emerson just has to supplant the M’s current underwhelming in-house infield options. But again, is that something to hold against Emerson?
Let us know what you think in the comments; we’d be especially interested in hearing from those of you who have watched Emerson play in person.
