MINNEAPOLIS -- Cole Young and Josh Naylor were eons away from the Majors when they got their first taste of Target Field during All-Star Week back in 2014.
And that made their game-sealing hits in the Mariners’ 7-1 win on Tuesday night feel nostalgically full circle.
Young punched an opposite-field RBI single during the seventh inning that pushed Seattle ahead for the first time in this series. Then Naylor delivered the dagger with a massive three-run homer that featured a bat flip appropriate for the moment in the eighth.
And they each did so from the left side of a batter’s box that is more familiar to each than you’d think.
Young took part in the Pitch, Hit & Run Competition at this venue just weeks before his 11th birthday, and Naylor was here taking part in the MLB Junior Home Run Derby at the ripe age of 17.
These showcase events were early forecasts of the types of hitters that each would blossom into, as both became first-round selections in the MLB Draft -- and are now key cogs in the Mariners’ lineup.
Naylor, obviously older, was closer to professional ball and as such more projectable. He wound up being selected No. 12 overall by the Marlins in the 2015 Draft, then was traded to the Padres, Guardians and Mariners. Young would earn prospect pedigree, too, but later. He was taken by the Mariners with the No. 21 overall pick in the 2022 Draft and reached The Show last May 31.
In many ways, much of their national exposure started right here in Minnesota -- and way back when.