SEATTLE -- Colt Emerson wasn’t even born when Ichiro Suzuki set the single-season hits record, the 21st anniversary of which was on Wednesday. Yet here both were, sharing the same field -- the face of the Mariners’ past and one of the potential faces of the future -- during Seattle’s tune-up scrimmage at T-Mobile Park ahead of the American League Division Series.
That Ichiro was here was not a huge shocker, as he’s a regular for Mariners practices throughout the season, though his appearance did stoke nostalgia and awe for the game-shape he’s still in.
Yet Emerson’s presence was somewhat of a surprise when he was announced as one of 11 members of the Mariners’ taxi squad -- essentially, a just-in-case group for the postseason should injuries arise. More chiefly, he was invited to glean valuable first-person playoff experience. And on Wednesday, he was installed at shortstop for the “home” team during the fourth inning of the split-squad matchup, wearing No. 85.
“Oh my gosh, walking out on the field and fielding ground balls, feeling part of the team for the first time, it was just amazing,” Emerson said. “I couldn’t stop smiling. It’s such a good group here. The guys have treated me so well, and I’m just so grateful for that.”
Though the game was not televised, the roughly 5,000 fans on hand witnessed the day’s best highlight when Ichiro snagged a flyout in the third inning and flashed Julio Rodríguez’s “No Fly Zone” gesture by crossing his wrists.
Yet perhaps the best moment -- and what no one knew about until Emerson revealed it postgame -- was that the 20-year-old considered tagging up from second base while pinch-running in the third to test the 51-year-old Ichiro’s all-world arm. That confab was shared only with Cole Young, the Mariners’ 22-year-old second baseman, as the play manifested.
“I turned around to Cole and I was like, ‘I should have tested him; I should have tested the arm,’” joked Emerson, who scored on the next pitch when Victor Robles punched a single to right field and Ichiro hit the cutoff man because Emerson was well on his way to scoring.
It’s been a season of rapid ascent for Emerson, who was invited to his first big league Spring Training, began the year at High-A Everett, was promoted to Double-A Arkansas on Aug. 5 then finished the season with eight games at Triple-A Tacoma, beginning Sept. 16.
Even though he shared a clubhouse with this group in spring, he marveled about how much different it feels now.
“We're actually in Seattle,” Emerson said. “I knew that in Spring Training, I was going to get cut and then go to High-A, you know what I mean? Like, here, you're actually helping to get -- just helping. We're competing for a World Series, and just to be a part of it, just to see the way these guys go about their business and the looseness, even though it's the playoffs, like it's just so cool.”
Emerson will not be on Seattle’s 26-man ALDS roster, but that he’s here on the taxi squad shows just how close he might be to The Show.
Across the three Minors affiliates, Emerson slashed .285/.383/.458 (.841 OPS) with 16 homers, 28 doubles, six triples, 14 stolen bases and 78 RBIs over 600 plate appearances. He also played in 130 games, by far a career high for the 2023 first-round Draft pick, who is just two-plus years removed from high school.
Emerson was also named the Mariners’ Alvin Davis “Mr. Mariner” Award winner, named after the club’s Hall of Famer for the Minor Leaguer who best displays “exemplary play and leadership skills both on and off the field.”
“I've learned that coming into a clubhouse and being authentic is the biggest thing,” Emerson said. “Like, coming into a clubhouse and trying to put on the act of a leader, you can't do that because guys see through that. And coming into a clubhouse and being authentic to yourself and authentically wanting to win, and that being the main goal, and then everything else just falls behind because of that.”