TODAY: Rodriguez's test came back clean, Servais told reporters (including Jude) this afternoon. Rodriguez is not in today's lineup but Servais nevertheless noted that Rodriguez will be fine and “a little sore” after some minor issues in recent days.
July 6: Mariners young Julio Rodriguez exited tonight's game against the Blue Jays in the first inning with a quad injury. As noted by Adam Jude of the Seattle Times , Rodriguez “felt something” in his lower right quad during pregame warmups and was removed from the game before taking his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning. The severity of the issue is unknown at this time, but manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Jude) that Rodriguez will undergo an MRI later tonight. Rodriguez himself indicated to reporters (including MLB.com's Daniel Kramer) after the game that he “should” be fine despite the issue, but declined to comment further.
This is not the first injury scare that Rodriguez has had in recent days. Rodriguez sprained his knee during the game against Toronto yesterday and was being treated by the team's coach after breaking his thumb while catching the ball on Thursday. Given those bumps and recent injuries, it would have been understandable for the Mariners to decide to give Rodriguez the day off, but the fact that he started the game in the lineup and exited before taking an at-bat is certainly worrying for Mariners fans. .
The 23-year-old phenom had a stellar rookie campaign that saw him finish in the top 10 in AL MVP voting, the AL Rookie of the Year award, and a massive contract extension back to 2022. He followed that performance with a strong 2023 campaign in which he got off to a slow start but started to heat up in the second half of the season, earning himself a fourth-place finish in AL MVP voting. Shohei Ohtani, Corey Seageragain Marcus Semien. Overall, the youngster entered the 2024 season with a career-best .279/.338/.495 slash line in the major leagues, which was impressive when combined with his strong defense in center field and his 62-for-79 hitting streak. record on the roads.
The 2024 season proved difficult for Rodriguez, however. While he got off to a slow start in 2024, he often kept his strikeout line near the league average throughout those struggles. One year ago today, the youngster was hitting .251/.312/.416 with a 104 wRC+. Even that performance would be much better than the numbers Rodriguez posted in his age-23 season. Through 89 games this season, Rodriguez is hitting just .247/.295/.355 with a wRC+ of 85, which is 15% worse than the league average. While his solid baserunning (18-for-20 on the bases) and top-notch defense have helped make up for that lack of production on offense, the 23-year-old has been closer to average quality than perennial MVP. candidate this year.
Now it seems possible that any attempt by Rodriguez to recreate his second half of the world from last year, when he hit .321/.366/.615 in his last 61 games, could be put on hold if the youngster ends up needing a trip to IL. That would be a sad development for a Mariners club that is clinging to a tenuous lead over the Astros, who trail Seattle by just two games, in the AL West. The club has won just five of its last 16 games thanks to an anemic offense that has slashed .190/.273/.310 with a 72 wRC+ in that span, hitting better than only the Marlins in the bottom of all MLB clubs.
If the Mariners were to lose Rodriguez for significant time, it would serve to increase the pressure on the club to add offense before the trade deadline at the end of the month. Multiple reports in recent weeks have indicated that the club plans to be aggressive in overhauling their offense this summer, and that need will become even more apparent if Rodriguez needs to stay on the injured list. In case the Mariners end up needing to explore relief options in center field, players like the White Sox star Luis Robert Jr. and the young Marlins Jazz Chisholm Jr. value that will be available this summer, although players of that type who have years of controlling the team usually come at a higher price.
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