Mariners top prospect Emerson injures foot; X-rays negative

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Mariners and their fans were collectively holding their breath on Saturday night as Colt Emerson exited the first game of a doubleheader at Triple-A Tacoma after fouling a ball off his right foot.

However, Mariners general manager Justin Hollander shared via text message a few hours after the incident that X-rays came back negative, and Emerson is day to day.

Emerson yanked an 0-1 changeup from right-hander Griffin Canning directly into the inner half of the foot, gathered himself after a brief delay, then struck out during that first-inning sequence. But he was replaced when the Rainiers took the field in the next half-inning.

Video replay showed that Emerson was attempting to put weight on the right foot while conferring with Rainiers manager John Russell and an athletic trainer.

Emerson is Seattle’s No. 1 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 7 overall, and the ink is barely dry on the eight-year, $95 million contract extension that he signed on Tuesday -- the richest for a player who’d yet to debut in the Majors.

The club made that aggressive commitment with the intention of him being one of their faces of the future -- but that said future would begin as soon as this season. Even at just 20 years old, his trajectory toward The Show was likely a matter of weeks, not months.

Emerson was playing shortstop on Saturday, but when he reaches the big leagues, he will likely be targeted more at third base. The Mariners had a separate injury scare in Friday’s 3-1 win with their current third baseman, Brendan Donovan, though he reported all positives after Saturday’s pregame agility drills. But he was nonetheless out of Seattle’s starting lineup.

Emerson began the season 7-for-25 with one homer, two doubles and three RBIs, good for a slash line of .280/.308/.480 (.788 OPS) across six games.