Felnin Celesten fell out of favor with prospect services, but after back-to-back Northwest League Player of the Week awards, he's turning heads again.
At the end of the 2024 season, Seattle Mariners shortstop prospect Felnin Celesten was ranked as the No. 5 prospect in the organization, according to MLB Pipeline.
He was ranked as the No. 74 prospect in the game at the end of 2025 by MLB Pipeline, but his star has taken a hit over the last few years.
But Baseball America dropped him from its Top 100 in 2025, and MLB Pipeline has him out of the Top 100 right now.
A spate of injuries have led to a lack of consistent performance and consistent availability for Celesten throughout 2024 and 2025, but thus far, he's off to a very strong start in 2026.
Still just 20 years old and playing at High-A Everett, Celesten is hitting .295 in 24 games with a homer, 16 RBIs and a .407 on-base percentage. He just won his second consecutive Northwest League Player of the Week award.
He's ranked as the No. 7 prospect in the system, per MLB Pipeline, but perhaps he'll find himself back inside the league's Top 100 if he stays hot.
We caught up with High-A Everett AquaSox broadcaster Pat Dillon on the most recent edition of the 'Refuse to Lose' podcast to talk about the improvement in Celesten since his end-of-season cameo at High-A in 2025.
"We didn't really see him for that long. So it was the end of August when he arrived, and then he may have gotten into 10 or 12 games over the final two weeks of the regular season. And then he did get into all four postseason games. The average wasn't great. You could see flashes of greatness. And then he started this season off not so great, but he just consistently caught fire.
You look at the numbers, and that really tells you the story of the kind of hitter he is. Throughout his career, he really hasn't had any discernible platoon split. He might be a slightly better hitter statistically left-handed (switch-hitter), but he's a pretty good hitter right-handed too. The walks are there. He's getting on base 40 percent of the time. He has speed. He can steal you a base.
This club has done a lot more running than any club we've had in a long time, and he's stolen six out of nine this season. And then defensively, he's good. He covers ground. He has a strong arm. It's accurate. Like all these guys, they're going to have their fair share of miscues, but for the most part, he's a very solid player. And if he keeps this up, he may be playing his way into Double-A before too long."
The AquaSox won the Northwest League championship a season ago even after graduating Michael Arroyo, Colt Emerson and Lazaro Montes to Double-A Arkansas. All three could appear in the big leagues at some point this season.
The Mariners will play the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night at 6:40 p.m. PT.
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