Mariners prospect Cole Young gets early glimpse of big-league dream in visit to T-Mobile Park

A whirlwind week for Cole Young continued Monday.

After a torrid first half of the season in Low-A ball, and then a brilliant debut weekend in High-A Everett, the Mariners’ 2022 first-round draft pick suddenly found himself in a big-league ballpark Monday afternoon.

No, Young did not earn the ultimate promotion. Not yet, anyway.

But the dream of reaching the big leagues did dawn on him as he watched pregame batting practice at T-Mobile Park, along with the rest of his Everett AquaSox teammates during an off day for the Mariners minor-leaguers.

“This is super cool,” Young said. “Just gives you a reminder to keep working hard.”

Whatever Young is doing — and wherever he’s doing it — it’s working in his first full season of pro ball.

The 19-year-old infielder went 7 for 11 in his first three games for Everett, with a home run, a triple, four walks, no strikeouts and one stolen base while batting at the top of the lineup.

He singled to drive in the tying run in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday. Gabriel Gonzalez followed with the winning hit, giving the AquaSox a walkoff victory win.

Young and Gonzalez, a 19-year-old outfielder from Venezuela, were promoted to Everett together last week. Both are ranked among baseball’s top 100 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline.

Gonzalez was 5 for 13 with a home run and six RBI in his first three games for the AquaSox.

Young, Gonzalez and catcher Harry Ford, the Mariners’ No. 1 prospect, hit 1-2-3 in the AquaSox lineup over the weekend, and all three were on hand Monday afternoon to take in Mariners batting practice.

Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez, manager Scott Servais and general manager Justin Hollander were among those to stop by and catch up with the AquaSox players.

“It’s been a really fun year so far,” said Young, taken with the No. 21 pick in the 2022 draft. “I’ve learned a lot here in my first full season — learning how to take care of my body and take care of my mind each day. I’m just trying to get better each day and I know things will work out.”

Communication issues in the outfield

They almost collided in deep right-center field on a deep fly ball Saturday.

Then Rodriguez and Teoscar Hernandez did collide on routine fly ball hit between them Sunday afternoon.

Hernandez held on to make the catch against the Tigers, but he was knocked to the ground in the process.

“Not good,” Servais said. “He caught the ball, but it could have been really bad.”

Rodriguez and Hernandez were OK, and Rodriguez shrugged off any concerns Monday.

“We’re good,” the 22-year-old said. “Just need to be a little louder.”

Servais said it’s a good reminder for outfielders to call for the ball multiple times, especially as they get closer to each other, so they can hear about the crowd noise.

“Julio can cover some kind of ground out there,” Servais said. “He really gets rolling and thinks he can catch anything.”