Julio Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners.
Julio Rodriguez is the most intriguing Seattle Mariners player right now. Only 21 years old, J-Rod, as he’s affectionately called by M’s fans, has really changed the look and feel of the Seattle Mariners organization. Not only them, but he may be the next face of sports in the Pacific Northwest.
The first thing that catches your eye is his smile. It’s infectious, and you can tell he’s having fun. For those of you who have been around long enough, you can’t help but see the correlation between The Kid and this kid. The attitude might be the only part of the comparison that fits, but hopefully, a winning mentality also comes with Julio’s presence.
He owned every level of the Minor Leagues. In 838 at-bats, he hit .331 with a .955 OPS. At AA Arkansas in 2021 (the highest level he reached), he batted .362 with a 1.007 OPS. Rodriguez never played a game at AAA Tacoma. He had a chance to earn a spot on the team right out of spring training this season because of his Arkansas performance.
Highly touted because of his minor league efforts, confidence, and teamwork, he spent three straight years as a top 10 prospect according to Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus. MLB.com ranked him #5 and #3 in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
The new MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement is designed to challenge teams to gamble on their highly touted prospect out of spring training. That gave Rodriguez his chance to skip AAA and start with the club.
2022 spring training was short, and as such, each team’s evaluation period was cut shorter. In 34 at-bats, Julio hit .412 with a 1.039 OPS. This made the decision easy for M’s Manager Scott Servais, though he waited until spring training was complete. Thus Julio had joined fellow top prospects Bobby Witt Jr. and Spencer Torkelson as rookies on opening day. The race to be 2022 American League Rookie of the Year was on.
Success was tough in the beginning. The young centerfielder also had some tough calls go against him. In addition, veteran fielders took advantage of J-Rod’s youthful exuberance, and it put him in some awkward positions. He’s been faked out on the bases multiple times instead of picking up third base coach Manny Acta. But that’s why they’re called rookie mistakes, and Rodriguez is a rookie.
He struck out at least one time in 18 of his first 20 MLB games. During that same stretch, he struck out multiple times in 7 April games. It was a brutal start as the rookie couldn’t hit a breaking pitch to save his life. Thankfully his life wasn’t on the line.
In addition, he had 14 called-strike threes on pitches that were clearly outside the zone. A combination of bad luck and bad calls added to his struggle. A lesser person might have buckled, but Julio Rodriguez is wired differently.
It all started to turn for him on April 24 against Kansas City. The rookie went 2-for-4 with a double, his first multi-hit game of the season. Additionally, he had 2 RBI, scored a run, and the M’s won 4-1. That increased his average from .136 to .167.
Then he did it again the next game with another 2-for-4. He had a double, scored two runs, stole a base, and raised his average to .192. He picked up hits in six of seven games.
The calendar turned from April (.206) to May, and Julio took off. He was already hitting well over the final 8 games of April, raising his average by 69 points. The Seattle Mariners opened May in Miami. Julio launched his first career home run, a 450-foot rocket. He also had his first Major League 3-hit game, and his average climbed to .234 on the season.
May proved to be one of his best months as a professional (minors or majors). He had 9 multi-hit games, and 6 of them were 3 or more hits. J-Rod also had his first ever four-hit game against the Mets in an 8-7 victory, where he hit his second career home run. He would finish May batting .309 with a .866 OPS, 5 steals, all 6 of his home runs, 17 RBIs, and a total of 11 extra base hits.
June has proven to be just as strong for Julio as he became more patient at the plate and, as of this article has an OPS of .893, which is better than his May numbers. He’s batting .288 and has scored 19 runs.
His May performance made it official, Julio Rodriguez is in Seattle to stay. What does the future hold for this superstar? With Russell Wilson leaving for Denver, a young hockey team in the Seattle Kraken, and an NBA team in disarray, Julio Rodriguez’s biggest competition for the Pacific Northwest’s attention is from two dynastic teams from, unfortunately less popular sports. This has a chance to make Julio Rodriguez the face of not only the Seattle Mariners but the sports landscape around Emerald City.
Rodriguez is doing things that fans haven’t seen in decades. In his first 50 games, he’s the first Mariner since Ichiro to have 15 or more infield hits and 10 or more stolen bases. That’s some impressive company.
The adjustments he’s made at the plate are equally impressive. He struck out 30 times over 73 at bats in April and only 29 times in 110 during May. The young slugger is going to strike out, but to do it at a less than 27% clip after being well over 40% in his first month is impressive.
Adding to his growing legend, J-Rod has one of the three fastest home-to-first attempts of the season (Jorge Mateo and Bobby Witt Jr. were the only ones faster this season). Since moving to third in the batting order, he’s hitting .378 in 9 games (37 at bats) with a 1.032 OPS.
J-Rod isn’t perfect, but he is fun to watch, and I look forward to many years of the burgeoning Seattle Mariners star burning down to first or launching mammoth home runs while smiling, having fun, and adding his infectiously positive attitude about things.
Joe Swenson loves baseball, his family, and writing. He writes in many genres from sports, to young adult fiction novels, to plays, screenplays, and everything in between.