Mariners prospect Jonny Farmelo's MLB stock rapidly rising

Jonny Farmelo's stock is rising.

That's an apt metaphor for the Mariners' 21-year-old prospect, whose primary passion outside of baseball is trading the stock market. It started when Farmelo attended Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va., and his father sought to teach his kids about responsible investing.

"My dad set up a game between me and my sisters," Farmelo explained in February during spring training. "He gave us a few months, fake money to invest. Whoever did the best got some real money to play with. So I had to win. I had to beat my sisters."

That competitiveness also brought him to baseball. Before he became the 29th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Amateur Draft, Farmelo was the son of a college soccer player. As a boy, he floated between soccer, basketball and baseball before his competitiveness kicked in.

"When I was a freshman in high school, I was very athletic, but I wasn't very polished at baseball," he said. "I got invited to this camp at the University of Virginia. There were five kids who went to that camp. It was an elite camp, and they offered (a scholarship to) every kid except for me. It really ate at me. That was the day the switch flipped for me. I was like, ‘OK, I'm doing baseball. I'm going to figure this out.'

"I just kind of fell in love with it. I love the challenge of it, and the ups and downs kept me going back to it, trying to get better."

He got good enough that Virginia eventually offered a scholarship, and Farmelo briefly committed before being drafted in the first round. But professional baseball, like the stock market, has provided plenty of ups and downs.

Farmelo's first season in Seattle's system ended abruptly, with a torn ACL in June 2024. And after returning nearly a year later, the athletic outfielder missed more time because of a stress reaction in his rib. While fellow prospects Cole Young (the 21st overall pick in 2022) and Colt Emerson (the 22nd pick in 2023) rocketed up the rankings, Farmelo's progress frustratingly stalled.

But the adversity is also why he keeps coming back.

There's always another challenge to chase.

"Our fall league team is based out of Peoria (Ariz.), so they play at the stadium there," Mariners director of player development Justin Toole said. "I'm sitting there watching the game (while Farmelo was rehabbing his torn ACL), and here comes Jonny sitting down next to me. I'm asking, ‘Hey man, what are you doing here?' The answer was, ‘I need to get the mental reps. I need to watch. I need to pay attention. I need to think the game.'

"For a kid that young who had come from high school and doesn't have a ton of high-level baseball experience, that's a pretty mature way to look at things, especially when you're going through the injuries he was going through. It was pretty incredible."

As are, recently, the results.

A healthy Farmelo is excelling at high-Class A Everett, with a .266/.395/.468 slash line, plus nine doubles, eight homers, six triples and 18 stolen bases in his first 57 games. On June 2 he went 3 for 3 with a single, double and triple against the Eugene Emeralds. On June 4 he went 3 for 4 with a double, a homer, two walks and three RBI. On June 5 he went 2 for 3 with two more long balls.

In his past 28 days, Farmelo is slashing .345/.467/.575 with two doubles, four triples, five homers, 11 stolen bases and 12 RBI. Though his Mariners debut likely remains at least a season away, Farmelo is ranked as Seattle's No. 6 prospect and the No. 71 overall prospect in baseball by MLB.

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With reps, his stock is rapidly rising.

"Obviously the makeup and mentality is a huge one, just how he pays attention to the game," Toole said of Farmelo's transferable tools. "But there's just so many explosive things. He could be a speed guy. He could put the ball in play. He can run. He can be a power guy.

"You're starting to see more power. He's got the most home runs he's had in his career up to this point, obviously in a little bit of a limited sample. He can play defense in center field. He's just got so many ways he can change the game with his skill set."

The most important of which is not an athletic attribute.

It's an unquenchable craving to compete.

"I want to be the best player to ever play the game," the 6-foot-1, 205-pound center fielder said. "I'm not sitting here going, ‘I want to win five MVPs.' I want to be the best player I can possibly be and the best player to play the game. I just love the chase and the competition."

Which is why, when his body briefly betrayed him, Farmelo poured into his other passion. He said "it's real peaceful for me to get on the [stock] market. It was really helpful for me throughout the rehab process, because I could compete in the markets and not necessarily in baseball. I just love to compete. That's really what it is.

"It was the speculation of it and the odds. When you're trading the markets, you're trying to predict what might happen in the future and get in front of where the money's going to go. When you actually do get in front of it and you're right, it's fun. It's like winning. It's like hitting a double. But it's very hard, which is what makes it fun."

For Farmelo, the challenge changes. But never the chase.

So, is it a good time to buy Jonny Farmelo stock?

"Oh, yeah. For sure," Farmelo confirmed with a smile in February. "I think it's a great time to buy my stock. It had a little dip after the injuries, maybe. But now I think is a good time."

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