AquaSox Announce 2026 Opening Day Roster
Published on March 31, 2026 under Northwest League (NWL)
Everett AquaSox News Release
EVERETT, WA: The Everett AquaSox, High-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, announced today the 30 players on their Opening Day roster for the 2026 Minor League Baseball season.
The roster features 22 returners who won the 2025 Northwest League Championship with the AquaSox, eight newcomers, and five Top-30 prospects. Of the five Top-30 prospects, three are ranked among the Mariners farm system's top-10.
Among the three top-10 prospects on the AquaSox roster, outfielder Jonny Farmelo (No. 6) and Felnin Celesten (No. 7) will receive their second tastes of High-A baseball. The lefty-swinging Farmelo played in 29 regular-season games for the AquaSox last year, hitting .230 with 13 extra-base hits and 16 RBIs, and the switch-hitting Celesten was an August call-up who saw time in 11 regular-season High-A games in 2025.
Rounding out the top-10 prospects on Everett's roster is catcher Luke Stevenson, the Mariners' No. 8 prospect. A 21-year-old catcher, Stevenson was selected 35 th overall in the 2025 MLB Draft by the Mariners out of the University of North Carolina. The lefty-swinging Stevenson made his professional debut last season, playing 22 games for the Single-A Modesto Nuts. In those games, he hit .280, tallying 14 RBIs and 23 walks while achieving an .860 OPS.
Additional players ranked in the Mariners' Top-30 prospects that were named to Everett include outfielder Carlos Jimenez (No. 21) and right-handed pitcher Lucas Kelly (No. 29). Jimenez, a signee from the 2019 international signing period, hit .258 with Modesto last year, collecting 17 doubles, four triples, and a career-high 14 home runs. He also drove home a career-best 63 runs, and he tallied a career-high 60 walks as well.
Kelly famously went down in AquaSox history last season, striking out Jonah Cox for the final out of Everett's championship-winning Game 4 against the Eugene Emeralds. A 2025 sixth-round draft pick out of Arizona State, the sidearmer made his professional debut last season, pitching in five regular-season games with the Frogs.
Additional returning members from the 2025 Northwest League Champions roster include: LHP Jacob Denner, RHP Taylor Dollard, RHP Jose Geraldo, RHP Ben Hernandez, RHP Casey Hintz, RHP Christian Little, RHP Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman, RHP Brock Moore, LHP Calvin Schapira, RHP Gabriel Sosa, RHP Evan Truitt, C Josh Caron, OF Anthony Donofrio, INF Carter Dorighi, INF Brandon Eike, C Matthew Ellis, INF Axel Sanchez, INF Luis Suisbel and OF Curtis Washington Jr.
Dollard made 12 starts for the AquaSox in 2025, compiling a 3-3 record with a 3.90 ERA while striking out 37 and walking only 13. Hernandez was a force out of the bullpen, making 37 regular-season appearances to the tune of a 3.46 ERA, and Little impressed among three starts, allowing only four earned runs across 12.2 innings pitched. Schapira also dazzled in his first stint of High-A, making 11 appearances for the AquaSox while assembling a 1.69 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 10.2 innings of work.
Suisbel leads the returning hitters coming off a powerful 2025 campaign that saw the switch-hitting native of Venezuela lead the Northwest League in home runs with 23. The 22-year-old also collected 39 total extra-base hits and 68 RBIs. Donofrio hit .230 and smacked 23 doubles across 87 regular-season games with Everett, and Dorighi hit .262 in 36 regular-season games after being promoted to High-A in July.
The 2026 AquaSox will also feature six more newcomers alongside Jimenez and Stevenson. These players are: RHP Chase Centala, LHP Reid Easterly, RHP Walter Ford, RHP Adam Maier, RHP Colton Shaw, and INF Austin St. Laurent
Ford was drafted 74 th overall by the Mariners in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Pace High School in Florida. Nicknamed the "Vanilla Missile," Ford has pitched in three professional seasons thus far. Shaw was Seattle's seventh-round selection in the 2025 MLB Draft out of Yale, and he made has three professional appearances under his belt - all of which came with Single-A Modesto.
St. Laurent joins the AquaSox after spending two seasons in Single-A. During the 2025 campaign, he played 123 games, hitting .257 with 17 doubles and four home runs while collecting 55 RBIs. Easterly, originally signed as an undrafted free agent out of Duke, made three appearances in Modesto last season, totaling 4.2 innings pitched.
New to the Mariners organization are Centala and Maier. Centala, a 24-year-old who was last with the Miami Marlins organization, has thrown 81.2 professional innings with a 3.31 ERA, reaching as high as Double-A, and Maier joins Seattle's prospect pipeline from the Atlanta Braves. Maier has tossed 183.2 innings of professional baseball, pitching as high as Triple-A.
Manager Ryan Scott and the AquaSox begin their season at Avista Stadium in Spokane against the Spokane Indians on April 3. Opening Night at Everett Memorial Stadium Field is slated for Tuesday, April 7th at 7:05 p.m. against the Tri-City Dust Devils.
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