Colt Emerson’s first major-league home run has made a strong impression on his Seattle Mariners teammates.
Bryan Woo was ready to discuss Emerson after pitching six shutout innings against the White Sox on Monday night.
“Yeah, I just watched it like 10 times before I walked in here,” Woo said.
Emerson’s At-Bat
Emerson’s three-run homer, a low liner over the right-field wall, came in the eighth inning of a 6-1 win.
“It was a great pitch,” Woo said. He added, “He’s put together a lot of good at-bats already. Everybody’s already obviously seen just the raw talent in spring training and watching him in the minor leagues coming up, but I think the discipline to be 20 years old and not just come out swinging right away says a lot about who he is, and you know the caliber of player that he is already to grind out some of the at-bats after falling behind.”
With two outs and runners on, Emerson fell behind 0-2. The pitcher, Trevor Richards, threw changeups. Richards then tried a fastball up and away, but Emerson didn’t swing.
Richards then threw another changeup. Emerson fouled off two more pitches, before hitting the seventh pitch, another changeup, for a home run.
“Seeing Dom (Canzone) and (Josh Naylor) get on ahead of me, they are both lefties, it gave me a good idea of what he was going to throw,” Emerson said. “He’s only a two-pitch guy, but he’s got a really good fastball and really good changeup, so I was just looking for something down the middle or over the plate that I can just hit a base hit right up the middle. I got the two strikes early and just fought back, and then put a good swing on a good pitch.”
Manager’s Assessment
“He doesn’t chase out of the zone much,” manager Dan Wilson said. “The game is not speeding up on him. That’s what you look for. It seems like he’s just taking it all in stride. That last at-bat I think was a key component to letting you know that. He just stayed in the at-bat, stayed in the at-bat and finally got a pitch he could handle. He saw pitches, adjusted to off-speed and made a good swing on a pitch down.”
Celebration in the Dugout
When Emerson reached the dugout, J.P. Crawford handed him the celebratory home run trident.
“Seeing their faces, and seeing Julio, Ran