Season Ends for Mariners' Colt Emerson

Seattle Mariners rookie shortstop Colt Emerson will undergo season-ending surgery on Wednesday to repair a partially dislocated tendon in his left wrist, general manager Justin Hollander announced Monday. The procedure will be performed by Dr. Donald Sheridan, an orthopedist in Scottsdale, Arizona, who specializes in hand and wrist injuries. Hollander said Emerson is expected to be ready for the start of next season.

"He will be ready for the season next year," Hollander said. "There are no concerns on that."

Hollander did note that Emerson will have a different offseason. He won't be allowed to swing a bat for most of the winter, and his weight training will be modified to protect the wrist.

The injury has bothered Emerson since before spring training.

The 21-year-old signed a $95 million, eight-year contract on April 1 — the biggest commitment at the time for a player who had yet to appear in the big leagues. In May, he became the youngest Mariners player to make his major league debut since Félix Hernández, who was 19 on Aug. 4, 2005.

A Promising Start That Faded

Emerson made his much-anticipated MLB debut on May 17 and took over starting shortstop duties in early June. Over his first 22 games, he produced an .884 on-base-plus-slugging percentage with five doubles, a triple, six homers, and 14 RBIs.

But then his production dipped. He struggled against fastballs, particularly in the upper part of the strike zone. Over his next 47 games and 160 plate appearances, Emerson posted a .169/.214/.216 slash line with just a double and two homers, adding 59 strikeouts. In his final full game, he struck out four times against the Yankees.

When the Mariners met with Emerson after the series finale in New York, the intention was to send him to Triple-A Tacoma to work on his swing. During that meeting, however, Emerson disclosed the wrist pain he'd been playing through, and he asked for more tests before reporting. The Mariners placed him on the injured list and sent him to Arizona to meet with Sheridan.

He had been hitting .190 with eight homers and 23 RBIs in 69 games at the time.

Emerson originally injured his wrist during a spring training workout. When first given the option, he declined surgery and tried to play through the injury with treatment. The team has also noted that he had a cortisone shot on April 19 and missed five games with the Rainiers.

Front Office Reactions

There were differences in tone among the front office leaders. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said, "I wish he would have been a little more upfront if it was bothering him that much. He should have said something."

But Hollander understood the pain-threshold issue: "I understand that a lot of guys deal with this... Different guys have different pain thresholds." Dipoto also said, "It gives me some comfort to understand what happened during his time here..."

The Mariners brought up Emerson in May to help jumpstart a struggling lineup and to fill in for J.P. Crawford at shortstop. He was originally counted on to continue developing in the minors but instead played through the wrist problem.

Other Injury Updates

Hollander also said right-hander Bryan Woo will make his scheduled start Wednesday. Woo experienced shoulder soreness during his most recent start. Hollander said Woo "felt something unusual" last week but had not been able to reproduce it since and was feeling better after a bullpen session on Sunday.

"Bryan feels great," Hollander said. "No concerns on his part, he'll get out there on Wednesday and hopefully get after it."

Shortstop J.P. Crawford was expected to participate in warmups before Monday night's game against Philadelphia and was likely to be activated from the injured list on Tuesday, Hollander said.

Infielder Brendan Donovan is still experiencing concussion symptoms after being hit in the head with a throw in the batting cage on Sunday. Hollander said Donovan will remain on the seven-day injured list at least through the weekend.