The Mariners are shaking things up with their lineup, sending struggling shortstop Colt Emerson back to Triple-A and selecting longtime super-utility infielder Brock Rodden to take his place, per Ryan Divish.
It’s a tough but necessary step for the 21-year-old shortstop, who has been struggling of late on both sides of the ball. Never one to strike out much – his career strikeout rate in the minors is around 17% – Emerson has been struggling to adjust to big-league pitching, striking out at double the rate he was in the minors. He’s been especially susceptible to high fastballs, frequently expanding up, but has also struggled with catching up to big-league fastballs on the plate. He’s striking out on fastballs over 50% of the time; his Statcast bat-tracking data shows how often he’s late on fastballs, and how often he’s swinging under them rather than on-plane.
Emerson is also struggling on breaking and off-speed pitches, although maybe not as much as one might expect; however, the fastball issue isn’t getting better, and pitchers continue to exploit his weakness there. It’s a big ask of a 21-year-old who is also playing the most demanding position on the field – non-catcher division – but it’s become apparent that Emerson hasn’t been able to make an adjustment, even when the attack plan for opposing pitchers is clear. He’s simply being overwhelmed at this moment by big-league pitching, which is not an uncommon thing for a rookie getting their first taste of the big leagues, especially those who were pulled up to fill in for injury, as Emerson was to patch over the injured left side of the Mariners infield. But Emerson’s defense has also been an issue.
Always a steady-handed shortstop in the minors, Emerson’s defense has been inconsistent at the big-league level. Athletic, fast, and rangy, Emerson is capable of making highlight-reel plays, and has logged a few of those, but he’s also booted several routine ones – as Perry Hill calls them, the plays “in the box”, the ones that have to get made. There’s a certain degree of learning curve that’s to be expected for young infielders – big-league infields play much faster than minor-league ones between the quality of contact off big-league bats and the maintenance of the fields themselves – but Emerson has noticeably scuffled, even on routine plays. From the vantage point of someone who has watched Emerson play infield for years, he’s made mistakes with footwork or transfers that he simply wasn’t making in the minor leagues, perhaps feeling the pressure of needing to produce on at least one side of the ball.
It reminds me of the level of defense we saw at times out of Cole Young last season, another steady defender in the minors who initially struggled with the transition to a big-league infield. Like Emerson, the Mariners gave Young a blow as he struggled down the stretch on both sides of the ball, replacing him with Jorge Polanco for the playoff run. Unlike Emerson, Young had a team of offensive producers around him and was able to slip quietly into the background, while Emerson’s struggles have unfortunately been magnified by the struggles of the team as a whole.
Moving Emerson back to Triple-A will hopefully slow the game back down for him and allow him room to breathe and adjust and get back to the player he is. For someone who has always prided himself on sticking to his plan at the plate and not striking out, it’s been a frustrating and unfamiliar experience for Emerson to struggle at this level, even as he’s worked hard to maintain a positive attitude every day.
Giving Emerson a blow is the best move for the player, but it’s also the best move for the team. With the rest of the Mariners lineup failing to produce consistently, Emerson’s bat is too much of a liability right now to be a consistent zero out of the nine-hole. And with some porous infield defense, especially on the left side, if Emerson’s bat is holding him back from being his best self defensively, then both sides are well-served by a change. With J.P. Crawford still on the shelf with wrist soreness with no timetable for his return, the Mariners have called up superutility infielder Brock Rodden.
Rodden, a long-time favorite here at LL where he’s known as “The Brocket Ship”, was a fifth-round draft selection in 2023 out of Wichita State; his ascent has been slowed by some unfortunately-timed injuries, but he’s produced at every level in the minors, consistently running an OBP of around .350. For fans of scrappy lil’ players like Dustin Pedroia or the Mariners’ own Shawn O’Malley, the 5’9”, switch-hitting Rodden – whose jersey is always dirty – will be a quick favorite. Rodden can also play all over the infield, and won a minor league Gold Glove at second base in 2024. Despite his short stature, Rodden also has some sneaky pop – he has 19 homers at Triple-A this season already, beating the 14 he notched in Double-A in 2024, his last fully-healthy season.
With J.P. Crawford still out, Leo Rivas will likely get the bulk of Emerson’s starts, but Rodden will certainly be given an opportunity to show what he can do. For a team that’s lacking offensive consistency and continually struggling to put runners on base, Rodden’s on-base skills will hopefully help lengthen the lineup (and did I mention he’s a switch-hitter?). If nothing else, he’s a fun player to watch, hustling out every single infield grounder and playing with the kind of high energy many have noted this team to be lacking of late. It will also be interesting to see how the team slots him in defensively – second base, not short, is Rodden’s natural position, and Cole Young is capable of playing short, but Rodden could also be used at third to spell Brendan Donovan. He’s played second, third, and short for Tacoma this season, offering Dan Wilson flexibility in penciling his name into the lineup. If Rodden’s on-base skills from the minors transfer to the bigs, he could be a boon for a struggling ballclub on both sides of the ball.