Mariners teen Julio Rodriguez exited this night’s recreation towards the Blue Jays within the first inning on account of a quad damage. As famous by Adam Jude of The Seattle Occasions, Rodriguez “felt one thing” in his decrease proper quad throughout pregame warm-ups and was pulled from the sport earlier than taking his first at-bat within the backside of the primary inning. The severity of the problem isn’t at present identified, however supervisor Scott Servais instructed reporters (together with Jude) that Rodriguez is ready to endure an MRI examination later this night. Rodriguez himself indicated to reporters (together with Daniel Kramer of MLB.com) after the sport that he “needs to be” okay regardless of the problem, however declined to remark additional.
It’s not the primary damage scare Rodriguez has had in latest days. Rodriguez fouled a ball off his knee throughout yesterday’s recreation towards Toronto and was tended to by the staff’s coach after jamming his thumb whereas making a diving catch on Thursday. Given these latest bumps and bruises, it will have been comprehensible for the Mariners to resolve on giving Rodriguez a time off, however the truth that he started the sport within the lineup and exited earlier than even taking an at-bat is unquestionably worrisome for Mariners followers.
The 23-year-old phenom burst onto the scene with a dominant rookie marketing campaign that earned him a top-10 end in AL MVP voting, the AL Rookie of the 12 months award, and a large contract extension again in 2022. He adopted that efficiency up with a robust 2023 marketing campaign the place he began sluggish however began to warmth up within the second half of the season, incomes himself a fourth-place end in AL MVP voting behind Shohei Ohtani, Corey Seager, and Marcus Semien. General, the teen entered the 2024 season with a wonderful .279/.338/.495 slash line for his profession within the massive leagues, made all of the extra spectacular when mixed along with his sturdy protection in heart area and his 62-for-79 report on the basepaths.
The 2024 season has been a tough one for Rodriguez, nevertheless. Whereas he acquired off to a sluggish begin in 2024, he typically stored his general slash line within the neighborhood of league common all through these struggles. One 12 months in the past right this moment, the teen was hitting .251/.312/.416 with a 104 wRC+. Even that efficiency could be a considerable enchancment over the numbers Rodriguez has posted in his age-23 season. Via 89 video games this season, Rodriguez has hit simply .247/.295/.355 with a wRC+ of 85, 15% worse than league common. Whereas his sturdy baserunning (18-for-20 on the bases) and protection at a premium place have helped to make up for that lack of manufacturing on offense, the 23-year-old has been nearer to a top quality common than a perennial MVP candidate this 12 months.
Now it appears potential that any try by Rodriguez to recreate his otherworldly second half from final 12 months, when he slashed an unbelievable .321/.366/.615 in his remaining 61 video games, could possibly be placed on maintain if the teen finally ends up requiring a visit to the IL. That may be a crushing improvement for a Mariners membership that’s holding onto a tenuous lead over the Astros, who’re trailing Seattle by simply two video games, within the AL West. The membership has received simply 5 of its final 16 video games thanks partly to an anemic offense that has slashed simply .190/.273/.310 with a 72 wRC+ over that point, hitting higher than solely the lowly Marlins amongst all MLB golf equipment.
If the Mariners had been to lose Rodriguez for a major interval, it will solely serve to additional escalate the stress on the membership so as to add offense prematurely of the commerce deadline on the finish of the month. A number of experiences in latest weeks have indicated that the membership plans to be aggressive in revamping its offense this summer time, and that want would solely change into extra pronounced if Rodriguez had been to require a keep of any notable size on the injured checklist. Ought to the Mariners find yourself needing to discover choices for assist in heart area, gamers akin to White Sox star Luis Robert Jr. and Marlins teen Jazz Chisholm Jr. determine to be out there this summer time, although gamers of that caliber with a number of years of staff management sometimes include a hefty price ticket.
