On Saturday afternoon, the Seattle Mariners re-assigned top prospect Colt Emerson to minor league spring training, ending his quest at making the Opening Day roster.

Heading into the offseason, there was a chance that Emerson could have won the third base competition with Ben Williamson. Then, the situation changed when Williamson was dealt as part of the trade that brought in Brendan Donovan from the St. Louis Cardinals.

It still seemed conceivable that Emerson could win a starting job at second or third, with Donovan playing the other, but Cole Young's emergence this spring has given him the opportunity to be the starting second baseman with Donovan at third.

A new window for Emerson seemingly opened up with recent news about how J.P. Crawford's shoulder discomfort could land him on the injured list at the start of the season, but the M's are still electing to send Emerson to Triple-A.

While disappointing to some fans, it's the right move, and here's why.

Simply put? Emerson has played 40 games above High-A ball in his minor league career. He's played 34 at Double-A and six at Triple-A. That's four less games (44) than Julio Rodriguez had before he was promoted in 2022.

Is Emerson really more advanced than Rodriguez was? He might be, but that's an awful lot of pressure and expectation. Rodriguez won the Rookie of the Year that season and has three All-Star appearances in four years, and two different top-six finishes in the AL MVP voting.

Emerson might be at that level some day, but it's unlikely he's there right now. The logical move is to let him play in the minors more to work on getting there.

Do the Mariners really want to potentially harm the mental development of their top prospect? You saw what happened to Jarred Kelenic when a player was brought up before he was ready, and even if Emerson isn't wired the same way as Kelenic, the M's are wise to not let history repeat itself.

On the flip side, if Emerson does play well, does the organization really want the can of worms that will open? Can they really send Emerson down when Crawford is ready to return? If they keep him up, who are they getting rid of and how are they manipulating the playing time and positions?

It's too difficult a needle to thread.

Honestly? The M's are best waiting on Emerson until he's ready and/or until someone else's poor performance or injury necessitates the need for a move.

Emerson will help this team, but it's smart to not have it be yet.

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