The latest on the Mariners’ plans for top prospects Colt Emerson, Kade Anderson

There is a small part of Jerry Dipoto that relishes Colt Emerson’s recent struggles in Triple-A.

There is also a small part of Dipoto that wishes Kade Anderson’s run of unprecedented dominance in Double-A would detour into a dead end.

Prospects, you see, are supposed to be challenged. Some might suggest they even need to struggle before reaching the majors.

Baseball isn’t supposed to be as easy as Anderson, the Mariners’ No. 1 pitching prospect, has made it appear in his first month as a professional.

It is supposed to be as much of a grind as it has been for Emerson, the Mariners’ No. 1 overall prospect.

How young ballplayers respond to such challenges is often a strong indicator of their long-term outlook, Dipoto has learned.

“The beauty of development is that there doesn’t have to be a rush,” Dipoto said. “There is no end game. There is no promotion date. There is a (process of) just go out and get better at what you’re doing.”

It’s possible, perhaps even likely, that Emerson and Anderson could both end up in Seattle by the end of the season. You can throw Ryan Sloan, the Mariners’ precocious 20-year-old right-hander in Double-A, in that discussion, too.

In the short-term, Dipoto said, there is no urgency to call up any of their top prospects to the big leagues, even with an underperforming Mariners roster through the season’s first six weeks.

When might Emerson be ready?

The spotlight grew brighter on Emerson, a 20-year-old shortstop, when the Mariners signed him in late March to an eight-year, $95-million contract extension, at the time the largest ever for a player who has yet to appear in the majors.

And when Seattle third baseman Brendan Donovan landed on the injured list on April 20, it was only natural to wonder if Emerson’s big-league call-up was imminent.

It turned out, though, that Emerson had been playing through a wrist ailment that required a cortisone injection two weeks ago, and perhaps because of that, his offensive production in Tacoma has been underwhelming.

“Our belief in Colt and the reasons for signing that contract were more about the long term than it was about his promotion now,” Dipoto said this week. “And that continues to be the case. We’ll do the right thing for his development.”

Emerson has five homers in his first 112 at-bats in Triple-A this season – including a long home run Wednesday as part of a three-hit night – but his 29.2% strikeout rate is a concern.

“Colt hits the ball hard … and he’s probably shown more off-field power than he’s shown at any level, and that’s super encouraging,” Dipoto said. “Colt’s management of the strike zone wasn’t to his standards (to start the season) … and he’s still well above where he should be (in strikeout rate) and where he will be.”

Scouts have raved about Emerson’s defensive improvement over the past year, so much so that many project him to be an above-average shortstop in the big leagues, long-term.

The Mariners, though, will likely play Emerson at third base, primarily, when he does arrive in Seattle this season, Dipoto reiterated. The club does not plan to push veteran J.P. Crawford, an unofficial team captain, off shortstop in his final season under team contract.

Donovan, at that point, would shift into a super-utility role, in the lineup every day but splitting time between third, second and the corner outfield spots (and perhaps DH).

The pitching plan

The No. 3 overall pick in the MLB draft last summer, Anderson has been the best pitcher in the minor leagues through the first five starts of his pro career for Double-A Arkansas.

Entering his sixth start Friday, he had allowed only one run and 14 hits in 24.1 innings, with a 38-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

“It’s truly tough to imagine him being any better than he’s been,” Dipoto said. “He’s exceptionally gifted, and he doubles down on it with incredible focus and an incredible work ethic.”

This sort of untouchable success can’t last forever for Anderson – at least, not at this rate – and Dipoto will be monitoring how the 21-year-old left-hander handles the first signs of trouble.

“He’ll run into a little bit of a road bump somewhere,” Dipoto said, “and the next challenge will be how he overcomes that. And until then, don’t try to improve what has been awesome start. Just continue doing the things you’re doing. Don’t try to figure out how to sharpen an already incredibly sharp knife.”

The Mariners made an aggressive decision to have Anderson and Sloan both start the season in Double-A. They want both pitchers to settle into a rhythm in Arkansas, playing the Double-A Texas League environments that are generally much more forgiving for pitchers than the Triple-A parks in the Pacific Coast League.

Anderson, in particular, could be on the Mariners’ radar by the end of the summer, but Dipoto doesn’t see any benefit to accelerating his timeline.

“That’s where he’ll stay (Double-A). We think that’s the best place for his development,” Dipoto said. ” … There is also an awareness that we are pretty deep (with starting pitching) in the big leagues right now … and we’re in no rush to start jerking him around in his development.”