Colt Emerson has been on the radar of Mariners fans since the day he was drafted 22nd overall in the 2023 MLB Draft. Emerson is Seattle’s top prospect, MLB.com ranks him #9 overall, and Baseball America has him ranked at #7.

Emerson is considered one of the best pure hitters in the minors. He’s a contact over home run guy, but the raw power took a step forward in 2025. He hit 16 homers in 2025 across three levels, up from 4 in 2024. He has great command of the strike zone and can barrel the ball consistently to all fields. He draws a ton of walks and doesn’t hurt himself by chasing pitches out of the strike zone.

Emerson proved that he could play above average shortstop defensively in 2025, answering doubts about whether he could stick at the position long term. It is expected that Emerson will be the starting shortstop for the Mariners at some point this season. He may even break camp with the club. He is having a solid spring, collecting 11 hits with 2 homers and a .282 average. I do believe that, when he arrives in Seattle, he will be an improvement over incumbent J.P. Crawford, and as I mentioned in my preseason breakdown of the M’s, it would make sense for the team to look to trade Crawford with Emerson in the wings, and Crawford set to be a free agent after the season.

Looking for MLB comparisons, I can see similarities between Emerson and Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo. Perdomo has three inches on the Mariners prospect, but both hover right around 200 pounds. The are both very selective at the plate, drawing a lot of walks and limiting strikeouts. Perdomo has 20+ home run power, and even though Emerson’s career best is 16, many scouts believe more power will come, giving him 20-25 potential.

By all accounts, Colt Emerson is the future of T-Mobile Park…and the future could be now. Some scouts and analysts believe that Seattle should wait on calling up Emerson, but, as I said, I believe that the top prospect is an improvement over Crawford TODAY, so why wait? Going back to the Mariners preview post, Seattle needs to make offensive upgrades if they want to make a run at a title, so they could use any potential return they could get for Crawford – just saying.