15 Jul 1999: A general view at sunset of the Inaugural Game between the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington. The Padres defeated the Mariners 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Otto Greule Jr. /Allsport

Baseball loses yet another bright young player far too soon.

Today, we lost a member of the Seattle Mariners family, Ryan Costello, whom the M’s drafted in the 31st round of the 2017 MLB Draft. The Connecticut-native Costello was found dead in his hotel room in Auckland, New Zealand, where he had been staying while playing for the Auckland Tuatara of the Australian Baseball League during Major League Baseball’s offseason. He was 23-years-old.

Auckland’s press release has claimed that preliminary indications are that Costello died of natural causes; however, nothing has been officially determined at this time.

For the last year-and-a-half, Costello has been a part of the Minnesota Twins’ organization. This year, he slashed .223/.343/.412 with 15 home runs and 46 RBIs across 108 games between High-A and Double-A ball. The Mariners traded Costello to the Twins back at the trade deadline in 2018, along with Chase De Jong, in order to acquire left-handed reliever Zach Duke.

Though Ryan hasn’t been with the Mariners for some time, he’ll always and forever be a part of the family and history of this organization. We’ll be keeping Ryan and the Costello family in our thoughts and kindly ask our readers to do the same. It’s never easy to witness our game lose a player in this manner, no matter what level of ball they play, but it’s even harder when it’s someone you’ve spent time covering—even briefly—or personally rooted for.

If there is any more information about Ryan’s untimely passing or some sort of way to help his family with funeral costs or anything of the sort, we’ll be sure to forward that along. For now, we mourn Ryan and offer nothing but best wishes to his family in their time of grief.

Rest In Peace.