Emerson Christian Hancock (born May 31, 1999) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and was selected sixth overall by the Mariners in the

2020 MLB draft The 2020 Major League Baseball draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season standings. In ad ...

. He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Amateur career

Hancock attended

Cairo High School Cairo High School is a public high school in Cairo, Georgia. United States. The school's motto is "With Pride, We Give Our Best." Cairo High School was recognized as the SAT Region Winner for Class AAA and Region 1-AAA for 2005 and 2006. CHS ...

Cairo, Georgia Cairo () is a city in Grady County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 10,179. The city is the county seat of Grady County. History Cairo was founded in 1835. It was incorporated as a town in 1870 and ...

. As a senior, he went 11–1 with 0.75

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) and 125

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

over 65 innings. He was drafted by the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

in the 38th round of the

2017 Major League Baseball draft The 2017 Major League Baseball draft began on June 12, 2017. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first 36 picks, including the first round and compensatory picks, were broadcast on MLB Network on June 12, while the remai ...

but did not sign with the team. After high school, Hancock played

for the

University of Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The official mascot is an English Bulldog named ...

for three years. As a freshman at Georgia in 2018, Hancock started 15 games, going 6–4 with a 5.10 ERA and 75 strikeouts in innings. As a sophomore in 2019, he went 8–3 in 14 starts with a 1.99 ERA and 97 strikeouts in innings. He was named a second-team All-American by

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, D1Baseball.com, and Perfect Game. After the season, he was invited to play for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team but was not selected for the team's roster. In 2020, he went 2–0 in four starts before the season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He received the

Vince Dooley Vincent Joseph Dooley (September 4, 1932 – October 28, 2022) was an American college football coach. He was the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs from 1964 to 1988, as well as the University of Georgia's (UGA) athletic director from 1979 to 2 ...

Athlete Of The Year as the best male

athlete.

Professional career

Hancock was selected sixth overall by the

in the

2020 Major League Baseball draft The 2020 Major League Baseball draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season standings. In ad ...

. He signed with the Mariners on June 25, 2020, receiving a $5.7 million signing bonus. He reported to the team's alternate training site before the shortened 2020 season but experienced shoulder fatigue after his first throwing session and was shut down for the season. Hancock made his professional debut in 2021 with the

High-A West The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball ...

Everett AquaSox The Everett AquaSox are a Minor League Baseball team in Everett, Washington. The team is a member of the Northwest League and is the High-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. The AquaSox play their home games at Funko Field, which has a seatin ...

. Hancock was selected for the 2021

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League- ...

, but a shoulder injury kept him out of the game. He was promoted to the Double-A

Arkansas Travelers The Arkansas Travelers, known informally as The Travs, are a Minor League Baseball team based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The Travelers are the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners and play in the Texas League. Hi ...

in August. In 12 starts with the two teams, he went 3–1 with a 2.62 ERA and 43 strikeouts over innings. His season ended in early September due to another shoulder injury. Hancock returned to Arkansas to start 2023, making 20 starts and posting an 11–5 record and 4.32 ERA with 107 strikeouts across 98 innings pitched. On August 9, 2023, the Mariners selected Hancock's contract and promoted him to the major leagues. He made his MLB debut that night starting against the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

. He pitched 5 innings, giving up 2 hits, 1 earned run, and 3 walks with 3 strikeouts. On August 20, Hancock was removed from a start against the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

with a right shoulder strain. He was placed on the

injured list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

on August 21, and one day later, he was transferred to the 60-day injured list, again ending his season early. In 3 starts for Seattle in 2023, he had a 4.50 ERA with 6 strikeouts in 12 innings of work. Emerson was the Mariners sixth starter in 2024, splitting time between the Mariners, the Triple-A

Tacoma Rainiers The Tacoma Rainiers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They are located in Tacoma, Washington, and play their home games at Cheney Stadium, ...

, and the injured list. He was in the starting rotation on Opening Day and made seven starts with a 5.24 ERA before being optioned to Tacoma on May 8, just before Bryan Woo made his season debut. Hancock returned to Seattle on June 13 for a spot start, allowing 2 runs in 7 innings before being abruptly sent back to the minors. He returned to Seattle for another spot start on July 6, taking the loss after 4 innings of work, and was again ticketed back to Tacoma. He returned to the Mariners on September 13, filling in for the injured Luis Castillo. In three starts to close out the year, Hancock had a 4.70 ERA in innings. He finished the season with a 4–4 record with a 4.75 ERA and 39 strikeouts in innings.

Personal life

Hancock and his wife Haylie were married on November 18, 2023. He is the son of Don and Mona Hancock.

References

External links

Georgia Bulldogs bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hancock, Emerson 1999 births Living people Arkansas Travelers players Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Everett AquaSox players Georgia Bulldogs baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers People from Cairo, Georgia Seattle Mariners players Tacoma Rainiers players