They haven’t even played spring training games in Arizona.

And yet …

The Mariners have the same open lineup spots we remember from last fall, and a gazillion fans arguing about who should fill them.

All that yak-yak is making work easier for me.

Why?

Well, even though I’m neither a major league manager nor a hitting coach, I DO know the sound of bat on ball.

I’ve covered more than two thousand MLB games in person, including six no-hitters (and Catfish Hunter’s perfect game).

I can do more than just watch a game.

I can feel it.

Whatever you think of the morality Barry Bonds took to work with him, I can say for certain that there were few sounds in baseball to give you goosebumps like Bonds getting a pitch square on the barrel.

It exploded like some artillery piece you’d use in Afghanistan.

My point: I can tell you when a hitter has truly crushed a line drive.

Look, there are base hits that somehow wind up in the same place, maybe, but trust me.

They’re NOT the same.

THIS IS where we introduce you — again, most likely — to Colt Emerson.

Everyone who follows the Mariners almost certainly knows about Emerson, who is the club’s No. 1 prospect (and No. 6 throughout all of MLB).

He’s not exactly a secret.

With Seattle needing talent at both second and third bases to open this season — and Brendan Donovan locked in at third after his arrival from St. Louis — suddenly the only infield spot still open is second.

Comparisons were drawn with Julio Rodriguez from the spring of 2022, a player too good NOT to make the team on opening day.

Emerson has displayed high-level hitting skills and is a terrific infielder who is a natural shortstop.

In 2025, he shot up the Mariners’ minor league system, hitting .278, with 14 home runs, 68 RBI, and 11 stolen bases in 479 at-bats.

Colt is just 20, and the M’s originally targeted him all along to find his way into the big leagues in 2027.

That is, they WERE thinking about ’27.

In the meantime, however, Colt had a growth spurt — both physically and at shortstop —leaving the organization with a puzzle.

When players and staff arrived in Arizona, baseball boss Jerry Dipoto made it a point to tell reporters that Emerson would get a shot to make the club.

With J.P. Crawford beginning the last of his five-year contract at shortstop, that seat was full.

It seemed a cinch that Emerson would get to play his way to second base.

But then …

Perhaps to take pressure off Colt, or maybe to give second-year major leaguer Cole Young a chance to win back his job (started hot a year ago, then took a dive and finished at .211), it seemed Emerson dropped a notch.

THE M’S organization shifted gears.

Without any games for players to showcase their skills, Young seems to have been given the No. 1 candidate spot at second base.

I’ll be honest here.

I’ve seen Young play about half the season in Seattle last season, and he has distinct limitations.

Remember when I mentioned the sound of a ball sizzling off a bat?

Young has a nice swing, but he’s not a good player (bottom five percent in MLB at his position), and the ball does NOT jump off his bat.

Emerson is the opposite.

Crrrr-AAACK!

That’s the lefty Colt belting an opposite-field shot to left. When he pulls the ball, he can hit it out.

He’s going to be a 20-25 home run hitter in the big leagues.

Honestly, I know that sound.

Put Colt’s weaponry together with his athleticism in the field and on the bases, and you have a big leaguer.

Oh.

And soon.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week, normally Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”