What to make of Julio Rodríguez’s return to Mariners’ lineup

Aug 13, 2024, 8:08 AM | Updated: 8:10 am

Julio Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners reacts after a strike out during an Aug. 11, 2024 game. (Brandon Sloter/Getty Images)

(Brandon Sloter/Getty Images)

BY ZAC HERETH

Seattle Sports

Sunday brought two much-anticipated returns for the Seattle Mariners and their fans.

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For the first time in 20 years, ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball made the trip to the Pacific Northwest for a primetime matchup. It also marked the return of Mariners star center fielder Julio Rodríguez from the injured list.

Rodríguez, who suffered a high right ankle sprain while attempting to make a highlight-reel catch July 21, had a brutal day at the plate in his first game action in three weeks, striking out in all five of his at-bats while getting the start at designated hitter.

The return and subsequent performance elicited mixed reactions on social media. Some felt the Mariners made the right decision by inserting Rodríguez back into the lineup without a rehab appearance, while others believe he needed time in the minors to regain his timing before returning to the club.

Jason Churchill of Mariners After Midnight and the Baseball Things podcast preached patience for the returning center fielder when he joined Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.

“Really there’s no limit here. You get him 15, 20 plate appearances and then he should be good to go, if not before then,” Churchill said. “… But I think getting Julio back – and it doesn’t really matter to me if he takes those swings in the big leagues or in the minors – I take the chance that Julio’s going to find it in the first 10 at-bats versus putting Mitch Haniger out there in a bad matchup. Luis Severino (Sunday’s starter for the Mets), not really a great matchup for Mitch Haniger.”

The 23-year-old franchise cornerstone was starting to heat up before the high ankle sprain. Rodríguez struggled (mostly with power) for much of the season’s first three months, but was sporting a .375/.434/.688 slash line with three doubles, four home runs and eight RBIs in 15 July games at the time of the injury.

The Mariners were sorely lacking that sort of production from their center fielder beforehand, and he’s shown in the past he can carry those sort of numbers (and a team) for an entire month. Last August, Rodríguez slashed an absurd .429/.474/.724 with 10 doubles, seven homers and 30 RBIs to help Seattle go 21-6 during the month.

“The sooner you get Julio back rolling, the better,” Churchill said. “And I think that does happen a little bit quicker at the big league level because there is a pretty significant difference between the pitching players are going to see in Triple-A down in the Pacific Coast League versus what they’re going to see at the big league level.”

Is Julio as good as advertised?

Before his hot streak in July, Rodríguez was having a disappointing third season in the league, slugging just .327 with a .625 OPS that’s more akin to a glove-first fourth outfielder than a do-it-all star with a contract that could be worth as much as $470 million. Those numbers were certainly shocking after two .800-plus OPS seasons and seventh- and fourth-place American League MVP finishes in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Bump and Stacy co-host Stacy Rost has seen many wondering if Rodríguez is truly as good as 2022 and 2023 led on.

“He has proven a lot over his first two seasons, and I feel like we’ve got some recency bias because he’s had such a down year,” Rost said.

As Churchill pointed out, Rodríguez wasn’t the only All-Star caliber player struggling this season. Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. went from slashing .337/.416/.596 and winning the NL MVP in 2023 to a .250/.351/.365 slash line before a season-ending ACL tear earlier this season.

Toronto’s Bo Bichette has seen a similar type of dropoff. After posting a .290 or higher average in his first five seasons, 53 or more extra-base hits in the past three and leading the league in hits in 2021 and 2022, Bichette has produced a paltry .223/.276/.321 slash line with just 21 extra-base hits this season.

“This has been a really strange year for really good, proven players, All-Star level players,” Churchill said. “I know a lot of times players will tinker with their swing, and I know Julio tinkered with his mechanics, too, and sometimes that can be the culprit. I’m not saying that’s the case here with Julio, but sometimes it takes longer to figure out exactly where you’re supposed to be.”

How long might that take? It’s hard to tell in baseball.

“With baseball, it takes time, and we kind of live in a football world where you change coaches and you want results today,” Churchill said. “… That doesn’t happen in baseball. It takes weeks to months, sometimes until the next year for things like that to kind of take hold. So it’s tough and it’s frustrating to watch somebody as talented as Julio not perform as well, but I think the encouraging thing is he’s still hitting for average, we’re not seeing egregious levels of strikeouts – he did go backwards there a little bit – but as long as he’s able to make contact and we’re still seeing the hard-hit rates and things like that, you know the physical skill, the physical talent is still there. It’s just a matter of him finding his mechanics.”

Listen to the full conversation with Baseball Things’ Jason Churchill at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.