Morosi: This is the year Julio Rodríguez enters his prime

It didn’t take Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez long to establish himself as one of baseball’s bright, young stars.

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As a 21-year-old rookie in 2022, Rodríguez put together the type of season that most big leaguers never will. He batted .284 with an .853 OPS, 28 home runs and 25 stolen bases on his way to a 5.7 fWAR season, American League Rookie of the Year honors, an All-Star nod, a Silver Slugger and a top-10 finish in AL MVP voting.

The accolades have continued to pile up for Rodríguez since. He’s earned two more All-Star selections, two more top-10 finishes in MVP voting and another Silver Slugger. Last year, he became the first in league history with at least 110 home runs and 110 stolen bases over a player’s first four seasons.

Still just 25 years old, Rodríguez has plenty of baseball left in front him. And despite all he’s already accomplished, MLB Network insider Jon Morosi believes this is the year the center fielder truly reaches his prime.

“I’m not going to say that we’re just beginning to see the potential. I think we’re already seeing the results. But, to me, this is the year that Julio really opens up and enters his prime, and that is a scary thought for the rest of the American League,” Morosi told Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Tuesday.

Overcoming first-half struggles

For Rodríguez to truly reach his full potential, he’ll have to overcome the slow starts that have plagued the early part of his career.

Rodríguez has a career .260/.319/.418 slash line with a .737 OPS in the first half of seasons. In the second half, he’s slashed .297/.351/.552 with a .902 OPS.

He followed that trend last year, posting a .731 OPS in the first half and a .900 OPS in the second half. The second-half surge came after he declined to participate in the All-Star Game in order to reset for the second half.

“I really believe that he made some pretty good mental adjustments around the All-Star break that I find to be somewhat sustainable,” Morosi said.

As far as what has led to Rodríguez’s slow starts, Morosi believes it has to do with his pitch selection and recognition.

“On some level, he doesn’t seem to always make the best swing decisions early on when he hasn’t been going well,” Morosi said. “And I think a lot of that is, maybe for some hitters it takes that volume of tracking and seeing so many pitches to where their eyes and their overall neurological way they process the game and pitch recognition, that it takes them a certain bulk of pitches seen and tracking to get into making their best swing decisions.”

Morosi believes that’s something that experience can help Rodríguez figure out.

“He’s still building that mental notes file,” Morosi said. “You think about the greatest hitters – (Albert) Pujols and (Miguel) Cabrera – they just knew how every pitcher was gonna try to approach them even before the pitcher knew. And I think a lot of that just comes from being so talented and then that sort of sixth sense that great hitters have. Clearly, I think Julio is still developing it, but he’ll get there. There’s no question about it in my mind.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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• Seattle Mariners prospect named one of MLB’s standouts early in camp
• Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh addresses the ‘elephant in the room’
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