The Show Notes #23: Felnin Celesten Has Started His Anticipated Ascent
There are very few active teenagers in professional baseball as talented as Seattle Mariners prospect Felnin Celesten.
Author’s Note/Introduction
I am very excited to present Show Notes #23, which focuses on Dominican-Haitian shortstop Felnin Celesten, a top prospect in the Seattle Mariners farm system. First and foremost, thank you to Modesto Nuts Marketing Manager Mary Cortez for arranging the interview with Felnin Celesten and Luis Caballero. Thank you to Felnin Celesten for letting me interview him, and thank you to Modesto Nuts Manager Luis Caballero for translating and answering questions. Thank you all for reading and supporting The Red Black Green Baseball Blog! - Pat Ellinton Jr.
Born and raised in the small Dominican town of Guaymate with two older sisters, Felnin Celesten sacrificed the life of a typical teenager when he spent five years under the tutelage of renowned trainer Jose Daniel Ozuna (cousin of Marcell Ozuna) at Ozuna Baseball Factory. Celesten’s father was in the Orioles organization during the late 1990s before finding work with a hotel, and his mother is a teacher. He played the drums at Gethsemane Baptist Christian Church in Guaymate every Sunday. His favorite subject to study is mathematics and he has had a fascination with numbers since a young age. He also aspires to be an architect once his playing career is finished. He received his high school diploma from the Mariners organization, which offers programs that teach foreign-born prospects about various subjects like banking/money management, as well as English language skills and adjusting to life in the United States. He even answered some of my questions in English with a clear understanding of what was being asked.
There was a substantial amount of hype surrounding Celesten when he received the fourth-highest signing bonus for an amateur prospect from the Dominican Republic in MLB history. Rumor has it he declined an even larger offer from an NPB ball club after agreeing to terms with the Mariners organization for over $4 million dollars during the 2023 international signing period. The active MLB player he likes to emulate and study is 5x All-Star Francisco Lindor. Celesten admires the joy that the Afro-Puerto Rican superstar exudes whenever he’s on the field.
The Dominican-Haitian shortstop earned the moniker “El Fenix” because of his ability to persevere. “Everyone knows the story of the phoenix and how it rises from the ashes. [My trainer] told me that I always shine bright during tough situations,” he said over the phone with Modesto Nuts manager, Luis Caballero, translating. This ability has been tested frequently during his brief professional career. He was set to make his professional debut during the 2023 MiLB season in the Dominican Summer League (DSL). Unfortunately, he was forced to sit out for the season’s entirety because of a Grade 2 strained hamstring injury. His trademark persistence kicked in shortly after he regrouped, and he plotted his comeback.
“It was difficult at first, but then I saw it as a positive thing. It was a year of learning. I felt I could improve my body and my mind at that moment. I wanted to make sure I was ready for whenever I returned.”
Celesten finally made his professional debut in the Arizona Complex League during the 2024 MiLB season. He went .352/.431/.568(156 wRC+) before reaggravating a left wrist injury that forced him to sit out for the rest of the year after appearing in 32 games. Even though his playing time was cut short, he was grateful to get a taste of competing on the diamond as a professional baseball player.
His appearance in 81 games during 2025 marks the longest stretch of baseball he’s ever played in his life. He started the 2025 season strong by hitting .307/.376/413 over 85 plate appearances in April. However, he declined significantly in May with a .257/.284/.343 slash line. His walk-to-strikeout ratio dropped from 9:12 in April to 3:22 in May. He fought through June to the tune of .290/.347/.366 with nine stolen bases while only getting caught twice. He performed similarly in July, going .245/.330/.372 across 23 games. He has gotten on base twice in both games he has played in August so far. When I asked him about the large number of games he’s played in 2025, he explained, “I feel happy to have played as many games as I’ve been able to this year. I’ve had a lot of conversations with the [coaching] staff about how to maintain my body.”
El Fenix’s Embers Are Beginning to Glow
Celesten’s .274/.337/.378(102 wRC+) slashline with Seattle’s affiliate in the California League for 2025 isn’t anything to write home about at a glance, but scouting the statline being a cardinal sin gave me an excuse to explain what makes this individual so special. After sifting through the game tape, I feel that his tools, intangibles, and makeup are what scouts want in shortstops, plain and simple.
The first way that Seattle’s Dominican-Haitian wunderkid stands out is physically. He is taller than his listed height of 6’1’’. He is far closer to 6’2’’ or maybe even 6’3’’ and weighs around 180-185 pounds. He has the frame of an oversized shortstop with a lean, tapered midsection, chiseled legs, and well-defined shoulders. He still has plenty of room in his frame to add muscle without sacrificing foot speed or flexibility. He is a 60-grade runner who navigates the basepaths well but has slightly below-average basestealing skills. His lack of success at swiping bags may be due to a lack of reps over the last calendar year, so the jury is still out on how efficient a basestealer he can be.
Celesten is a switch-hitter who stands in the batter’s box with an open crouch and high leg kick that both vary from plate appearance to plate appearance. He has similar setups and actions from both sides of the plate. He keeps his hands perpendicular to his chin as he wraps the bat before swinging. It is a relatively simple cut that does not feature a ton of moving parts. He whips the bat through the strike zone and generates above-average bat speed with little effort. He separates his hips and hands well, allowing his core to rotate before bringing the bat around. His ability to anticipate when to swing is above-average, but the caveat is that his swing can get lengthy at times.
“I started switch-hitting at twelve years old and I take pride in it. It is something that I want to master. I enjoy being challenged, so [switch-hitting] attracted me because it is hard to do.”
He has an aggressive approach in early counts when he gets fastballs over the plate that he can hit. He makes adjustments mid-at-bat, but his aggressive hitting style will probably keep his walk rate hovering around the 7-9% plateau. His swing is somewhat grooved, as he has some struggles making effective contact in the upper third of the strike zone. He is very susceptible to fastballs up and/or on the outer half of the plate, as well as sliders down and in. Celesten’s 13% swinging strike rate is on the higher side and correlates with his hitting style/approach.
As seen in the video above, he often finds success by turning pitches on the inside half of the plate. He also makes effective contact by getting out in front of offerings in the lower two-thirds of the strike zone. Even though he possesses above-average power and regularly records batted ball events over 90 miles per hour, he has a habit of being a worm killer because of his somewhat handsy swing and lack of experience. His power is viable to all fields and he has a feel for hitting offerings where they are pitched.
His 60-grade speed gives him a lot of range in both directions. He does very well at charging grounders directly in front of him. He possesses a consistently quick transfer, a reliable internal clock, and the necessary arm strength/utility to stick at shortstop. He has even shown creativity and savvy by making well-placed glove flips with the traffic on the bases. His potential to be an above-average to plus defender at shortstop or third base is one of the main reasons why I think his floor is relatively high for an international prospect.
While Celesten has committed over 20 errors during the 2025 season, it's worth noting that this is a teenager who has had only 30 games of professional experience prior to this year. After making only eight errors in April and May, he accrued at least seven errors in both June and July. I interpret this development as a lack of experience rather than defensive inadequacies, for now. Time will tell whether he has the chops to stick at shortstop.
Conclusion
I look forward to watching Celesten with Seattle’s High-A in 2026 now that he has his sea legs under him. Even with the relative lack of playing time, it is very easy to see why he is thought of so highly in certain realms of baseball. There are a lot of prospects in his age group with similar ceilings to his, but there are very few with a floor as high as his. Not to mention, tall and athletic shortstops with above-average power do not grow on trees. He also possesses intelligence and a makeup that is not typically seen amongst teenagers in professional baseball.
Haiti itself has produced very few professional baseball players, as soccer is far more popular. Other Latin countries with substantial Haitian populations, such as the Dominican Republic and Cuba, have had more success producing Haitian ballplayers who often hide their heritage because of the anti-Haitianism in Latin American baseball. With Haitian players such as Estevan Florial, Touki Toussaint, Miguel Sanó, and Ernesto Martínez Jr. being more outspoken than ever, Celesten has the talent and the opportunity to be the face of a wave of Haitian talent quietly making inroads across professional baseball.