MINNEAPOLIS -- It’s still way too early to talk about All-Star bids, but if Cole Young keeps this pace, there’s a chance he’ll be one of the American League’s most surprising selections.
The Mariners’ 22-year-old second baseman delivered again on Wednesday afternoon -- and twice in clutch moments.
Young punched a game-tying RBI double over Byron Buxton’s head in the seventh inning. Then, he went for a curtain call in the ninth, drilling a single off the pitcher’s mound, between both middle infielders and into No Man’s Land in shallow center, to plate the tying and go-ahead runs.
When the dust settled, Seattle eked out a 5-3 victory over Minnesota at Target Field -- to win the series, cap a 5-1 road trip and get back to .500 (16-16) for the first time since April 3. This came after the club began the season 1-8 on the road.
“It’s just calming myself down, and not trying to be someone I'm not,” Young said. “Not trying to be a hero in every situation. Just pass the baton and just try to get on base. And I feel like that's helped me out a ton.”
After Young’s go-ahead knock, Cal Raleigh ripped a 398-foot fly ball that Buxton made a remarkable catch on, but it did turn into a sacrifice fly. That gave Andrés Muñoz more breathing room to lock down his sixth save. And in between Young’s big moments, leverage reliever Matt Brash exited with discomfort in his right side, which was the day’s unfortunate development.
Young now has an RBI in six straight games, which is the longest active streak in the Majors and is approaching the longest in franchise history (10 games, done by Eugenio Suárez from July 25 through Aug. 4, 2023). And with three RBIs on Wednesday, Young now has 19 for the season -- moving ahead of Raleigh (18) for the team lead.
Six of Young’s RBIs, including three on Wednesday, have been in the seventh inning or later that either tied the game or gave the Mariners the lead -- which pushed him into the MLB lead for that category. He also had a critical such hit during the seventh in Tuesday’s win.
Young also entered the day leading the Mariners -- and MLB second basemen -- with 1.9 wins above replacement, per Baseball-Reference. The all-telling metric speaks to his all-around game, and how much he’s standing out among teammates and his positional peers across the sport. He’s also had a stolen base and relayed a nifty double play, putting the totality of his development on full display.
“He's nasty,” said George Kirby, who twirled 5 2/3 innings with two runs allowed. “I feel like he doesn't really have a hole [in his swing] right now. But yeah, it's just been awesome to see, and he's been playing better defense, so he's kind of doing it all right now.”
Moreover, it’s how he continues to come through in the clutch that’s really shined. Young entered play ranked 22nd among 140 qualified hitters and tops on the team with a 1.019 OPS in high-leverage spots, per Baseball-Reference. And with updated stats, he now ranks second among 177 qualifiers in win probability added (1.64), per FanGraphs, behind only Mike Trout.
Adding even more to Young’s moments were that they each came with two strikes -- and when the Twins could’ve instead brought in a lefty to face him.
In the seventh, Minnesota stuck with starter Taj Bradley, who stymied Seattle all afternoon to that point, and waited to bring in lefty Anthony Banda in the eighth. Then in the ninth, they opted to stay with righty Eric Orze while lefty Kody Funderburk remained in the bullpen.
Part of that could be that Young has taken such a huge leap against lefties, with a .939 OPS against them this season compared to a .591 OPS as a rookie in 2025. His game-tying hit on Tuesday was left-on-left.
“Honestly, seeing a bunch of lefties this spring helped a ton,” Young said. “I felt like every pitcher I saw in spring was a lefty. So it was a little uncomfortable at first, but I feel like that helped me out a ton, and it gave me confidence going into the season that I can hit lefties as well.”
Every aspect of Young’s game is clicking right now, the sign of a very green player starting to figure it all out. He’s long been a big part of the Mariners’ future, but that’s rapidly become the present.