Mariners Remove Top Prospect From Game on Thursday, Fueling Big Speculation

The Seattle Mariners removed top prospect Cole Young from the game on Thursday at Double-A Arkansas, fueling speculation as to what was going on.

Seattle Mariners second base Cole Young (92) hits against the Milwaukee Brewers in the second inning at American Family Fields of Phoenix in 2024. / Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Seattle Mariners' top prospect Cole Young was removed from the game at Double-A Arkansas on Thursday night, fueling rampant speculation about what was happening.

Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times put out on social media that he heard from general manager Justin Hollander that the decision was not related to an injury or to a trade.

Text message from Justin Hollander regarding Cole Young being removed from the game: “We didn’t trade him.”

Hollander said it wasn’t a medical issue.

Hollander said it wasn’t a medical issue. https://t.co/BmtpqvYdE1

— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) June 28, 2024

There was no further word beyond that, so the speculation continues to rage on. Could Young be being promoted to Triple-A Tacoma? If so, why did the team feel the need to remove him from his Double-A game for that? Couldn't they have promoted him after the game as is commonplace? Is Young perhaps coming to Seattle to join the Mariners and make his major league debut? If so, what do they plan on doing with the rest of the roster?

These are all questions that will hopefully be answered throughout the day on Friday.

The 20-year-old Young is the top prospect in the Mariners organization, having been drafted out of the high school ranks in 2022. It seems a tad early to be talking about a major league promotion, but stranger things have happened.

A middle infielder, Young is hitting .267 at Arkansas this season with a .353 on-base percentage. He's got seven homers, 32 RBI and 12 stolen bases.

He is currently ranked as the No. 25 prospect in all of baseball.

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