Seattle Mariners prospect Colt Emerson found out the hard way you can have too much of a good thing. After two successful minor-league seasons, Emerson was pleased, but not satisfied. He felt like there was more he could do to get to his power, and decided in late 2024 to add a leg kick to help the smaller-bodied shortstop tap into more power at the plate. However, as he progressed through levels, the leg kick got more and more pronounced.
“For some reason I thought, the bigger it is, the more I can
stay back and then I can be ready earlier,” he said.
Emerson started gradually developing the leg kick towards the end of the 2024 season; the peak of the kick’s height probably came around spring training last year. Here he is in spring of last year homering off Cubs rotation centerpiece Cade Horton:
Emerson had a big spring that helped catapult him onto the national prospect radar. But despite his strong performance, he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his approach after facing big-league caliber arms.
“I felt really good, mostly, but I was just missing pitches by like [pinches fingers together] this much. And with the leg kick, I think it was like, I’m trying to do a little bit more than I need to, trying to do a little too much.”
The kick, Emerson realized, was interfering with his timing. And while he’d been able to get past pitchers in the low minors with slightly imperfect timing, that wouldn’t fly when facing the tougher arms at the upper minors every day, let alone MLB.
“For any kid, the best advice I give is, if you can be ready for the pitch before the pitch is being thrown, you have the most time to recognize what pitch is coming,” said Emerson. “So if you can be set up and ready to fire right when he’s releasing it, you can be on time for that 100 mph fastball. And then, like, you can see, oh, he’s off it? Curveball.”
Post-spring training, by May of 2025, Emerson was already decreasing the leg kick. Here is the apex of his leg kick last spring training vs. what he was doing in late May with Everett:
Unsatisfied with his start to the 2025 season, he consulted video and talked with his dad, who has been his lifelong hitting coach. By June, Emerson had eliminated the leg kick entirely, shifting it to a simple toe tap, as he’d done before.
“I struggled to start off the year, and I was looking back at old videos and I saw a toe tap against Nathan Eovaldi, and he throws 99 but I was ready for it, I hit a double off him. So halfway through the season, I was like, why don’t I just try this?”
It took Emerson a few weeks to adjust, but early indications were good. How good?
Emerson in April/May: .242/.347/.366
Emerson in June/July: .310/.426/.541
“I saw results immediately,” he said. “And you’re not always supposed to focus on results, but when I say results, I don’t mean stats. I mean the way the ball’s flying. I’m lining out, I’m hitting more doubles, I’m hitting for more power. All because it was allowing me to be ready before the pitcher.”
Emerson finished the 2025 season with a career-high 16 home runs: 11 at High-A Everett, another three after a late-season promotion to Double-A, and another two with Triple-A Tacoma as part of their playoff run.
That’s the same toe tap we’ve seen this spring. It’s consistent, whether he’s facing a righty:
Or a lefty:
For Emerson, the home run surge was nice, but what he’s really enthused about is his newfound ability to consistently hit to the pull side with power, even as he continues to focus on hitting the ball to all fields.
“The power uptick came because I was able to backspin pull-side balls and I was on time with fastballs, so I was able to turn on the fastball. My whole life I’ve had trouble pulling the ball with comfort. Like, I could do it, but it wasn’t comfortable, and I couldn’t do it consistently. It’s taken a lot of trial and error, but now I can.”
Change doesn’t necessarily come easily for Emerson, who prides himself on his consistency both in the field and in the box. His dad has been his hitting coach his whole life, he has a prescribed vocabulary he likes to use when talking about hitting, and his swing largely hasn’t changed from his days as a prep. But as he climbs the ladder towards MLB, he’s learning what it takes to make it and adjusting as he goes.
“Everybody in professional baseball has a good enough swing to play. Instead it’s, can you be on time for everything, make the adjustments when you need to make the adjustments, and stay on time? That’s the hardest part. And I don’t want to say that I figured it out, because no one ever figures out hitting, but I found something for me that I can stay consistent with the whole time.”
