Josh Caron — Mariners Prospect Profile
Mariners catcher, No. 17 in the September 2026 rankings. Scouting reports, development notes and level-by-level analysis from Jason A. Churchill.
Caron is still swinging and missing too much, but he also keeps drawing walks and hitting for power, and the strikeouts have gone in the right direction since his promotion to Double-A. There's work to do across the board, including defense, but Caron has the physical tools to eventually show up like a Tom Murphy.
Start with what happened between two Aprils at the same level. In 2025 Caron played 79 games at High-A and hit .197/.269/.331 with a 57 wRC+ — production about 43% below league average. He went back to High-A in 2026 and hit .272/.355/.579 with a 127 wRC+. Same league, same ballparks, one year apart, and he went from one of the worst regulars at the level to one of the best.
The power is where the change lives. He hit a home run every 36.8 plate appearances in 2025 and one every 15.4 in 2026, 19 in 293 trips, with his isolated slugging more than doubling from .134 to .307.
Jason A. Churchill
The walks have climbed at every stop since: 7.6% in 2025, 10.9% at High-A this year, 12.6% after the promotion. That is three straight moves in the right direction, and it is why the on-base number holds up at .350 on a .258 average.
Your strikeout note is correct and comes with a wrinkle. His rate did fall after the promotion, 30.7% to 28.5%. His swinging-strike rate went the other way, 17.0% to 18.8%. He is missing more often and striking out less, which usually means better two-strike survival rather than better contact.
The Double-A caveat is the power, not the approach. Three home runs in 151 plate appearances is one every 50, against one every 15 at the level below, and the isolated slugging fell from .307 to .186.
Two more from the log. He reached base in 87 of 103 games, including a 23-game on-base streak from April 16 through May 22. And on the catching question: from Boston Smith's arrival on August 4 through the end of the year, Caron caught 16 of 27 games and Smith caught 19 of 33 — 59% and 58%. Arkansas split the position almost exactly down the middle.
