Following on the heels of Julio Rodríguez and Noelvi Marte, Felnin Celesten was supposed to be the Mariners’ next big international signing success story. The Mariners gave him $4.7M to sign Celesten out of the Dominican Republic in 2023, the largest signing bonus they’ve ever handed out in IFA. However, injuries have slowed Celesten’s development and he only just completed his first full professional season in 2025, a fine-but-not-spectacular season in Low-A with Modesto.
It’s not the incandescent
rise the Mariners nor Celesten himself might have imagined for a player nicknamed “The Phoenix,” although it’s a name that’s becoming more apt as Celesten battles back from one injury after another. In a conversation with Celesten this past summer while he was at Everett for a short while, Celesten spoke about how the various physical challenges and injuries he’s gone through have taught him how to take better care of his body, prepare himself better for the demands of the season, and know himself better in a general sense.
“I know what I need now,” he said through translator Hecmart Nieves. “That’s the biggest thing. I need the training room. I need to take care of my body, to stay healthy on the field. That’s been the biggest adjustment…Injuries, it’s probably not the best way to find out what you need, but it’s definitely helped me to know myself better and what things I need to improve on.”
Part of taking care of his body was also taking care of his mind, something Celesten said the Mariners helped him with. Instead of allowing feelings of frustration to overtake him or viewing his injuries in a negative light, Celesten, who comes from a background of deep Christian faith, asked himself: what does God want me to learn from this? How can I come back better from this?
“Baseball is a hard game, and it comes with ups and downs. I’m proud of how I’ve handled myself this season, not letting the lows get too low and overcoming whatever gets in the way. Everything that has happened to me is like God giving me a message, opportunities to grow, and that’s the way I see the game and my life.”
With the WBC in action, Celesten got several opportunities to play with the big-league club this spring, getting into six games and collecting three hits. While the slight-framed shortstop doesn’t seem like he’s going to grow into a power hitter, he’s been working on putting the ball in the air more while still hitting the ball hard, and continues to hit from both sides of the plate, putting up near-identical lines against both lefties and righties.
While there’s a chance a stronger and more durable Celesten, removed from the hamstring injury and broken hamate bone that plagued him early in his career, can hit for more power, it seems like much of his prospect value will remain in his glove.
Celesten is a natural shortstop but has at times not made the routine plays, something he looked to have cleaned up during the Spring Breakout game. Playing behind a dominant Ryan Sloan, who induced groundball after groundball, Celesten ranged around the six, showcasing smooth footwork and clean mechanics.
He then went on to boot a routine ground ball in the Mariners’ final spring training game, because development isn’t linear, and Celesten is a prime example of that. His 2026 will be about, first and foremost, staying healthy; beyond that, continuing to maximize his modest power while spraying the ball all around the field and letting his plus speed do the rest. Easy to say, difficult to do, but Celesten’s early-career struggles have set him up to know just how hard, exactly, the task is ahead of him, and what he needs to do to best prepare himself to accomplish it.
