Hot Corner J.P? Crawford Aims to Prolong Mariners’ Career With Position Change
Colt Emerson is in the big leagues, hopefully to stay as a centerpiece for the Seattle Mariners. He’s a hotshot 20-year-old shortstop who bats left, throws right, and stands about six feet tall, coming to the show as one of the top prospects in the sport.
Interestingly, that’s exactly how you could’ve described J.P. Crawford when he debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies a decade ago. Back in 2016, MLB Pipeline ranked him as the No. 5 prospect in all of baseball and seemed like the next big thing at shortstop.
It wasn’t a linear climb for Crawford, however. In Philadelphia, he never realized that potential and fell out of favor with that front office. After the 2018 season, he was traded by the Phillies with Carlos Santana to the Seattle Mariners for Juan Nicasio, James Pazos, and Jean Segura.
It wasn’t an immediate success in Seattle, either. In parts of two seasons, he batted .237 with a .680 OPS and below average 88 OPS+. However, he won his first career Gold Glove at shortstop in 2020. 2021 is where things began to click for Crawford in a Mariners uniform, collecting 169 hits and posting 3.7 WAR. From there, he has been the franchise’s staple at shortstop.
