Following Wednesday’s (3-1) home loss to the Boston Red Sox, the Seattle Mariners are now (37-36) which is still good enough for second place in the AL West and just five games behind the division-leading Houston Astros. Led by star outfielder Julio Rodriguez and catcher Cal Raleigh, who leads all of MLB with 27 homers and is tied with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge for third-most RBI in MLB with (60).

But the Mariners also know that’s not enough to compete for that elusive World Series title come October. They’ll need reinforcements, and prospect Harry Ford is just that. In late May the club called up No.3 prospect Cole Young who’s the future at second base. There’s a great chance he’ll be joined by No.5 prospect Harry Ford, who’s MLB Pipeline’s No.66 prospect, at some point this season.

Ford Is Up Next

With Young hitting a walk-off in his debut to May 31, attention quickly turned to the dynamic Ford is doing work with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. Since May 1, Ford is leading all Triple-A players with a robust .411 batting average while smashing five homers, connecting on six doubles, drawing 11 walks and having just 14 strikeouts, all good enough for a superb 1.119 OPS.

Ford’s play has Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto sounding like it won’t be long now for Ford’s highly-anticipated arrival to the big leagues.

“He has put himself in the discussion that when you need the help, he’s the next guy in line.”

Ford Taking It All In Stride

As he inches closer to being called up, Ford isn’t letting it overtake or cloud his daily approach.

“For sure, yeah, I do. But this is where I’m at right now, and I’m just trying to be the best I can every day here. Get these pitchers, get the best out of them. And God has me here, so I’m going to do my best to be the best player here.”

Mariners Have Rare Logjam At Catcher

Its highly plausible Ford would’ve already been called up if it weren’t for the Mariners having the aforementioned Raleigh who’s putting together an MVP-worthy season, and he recently signed a six-year, $105 million extension. Raleigh’s backup Mitch Garver is solid in his own right, and his $12 million salary makes it difficult to move on from him right now.

That could be the only thing that hinders or deters the Mariners from making the call to add Ford.