Seattle Mariners' Cole Young mashes 1st HR of spring

Spring training stats typically aren’t much to read into, but it was hard not to notice Seattle Mariners second baseman Cole Young’s slow start to Cactus League play.

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Young was 0 for 8 with six strikeouts in four games heading into Sunday. However, he broke that hitless streak with one very loud swing in his first at-bat against the Rangers.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Young showed off the surprising pop he has for his stature, clubbing a 442-foot blast over the wall in right-center field at Peoria Stadium for a two-run homer in the first inning.

Young’s homer had a 105.9-mph exit velocity and came off a slider from Rangers left-hander Jacob Lantz, who had a 2.84 ERA over 85 2/3 big league innings last season.

The 22-year-old Young, a former top prospect, is the top candidate to break camp as the Mariners’ opening day second baseman.

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Young made his MLB debut in style last season with a walkoff RBI in the 11th inning against the Minnesota Twins on May 31. After going hitless in his next five games, he put together an impressive 50-game stretch where slashed .281/.369/.399 with a .769 OPS, three homers, seven doubles, a triple and 20 walks to 28 strikeouts. That run included hitting the longest home run by a Mariner last season, a 456-foot shot into the second deck in right field at T-Mobile Park.

However, Young struggled over his final 21 games, hitting .059 (3 for 51) with one homer.

A first-round pick in 2022, Young is one of just two first-rounders who were picked out of high school from his class to have reached the major leagues. The other is No. 1 overall pick Jackson Holliday. Young was picked 22nd.

Seattle Mariners’ Cole Young mashes 1st HR of spring

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