The Athletic unveiled their fourth MLB All-Under-25 Team on Tuesday (subscription required), with the roster consisting of 20 players. Seattle Mariners fans will be delighted to know that this included one of their own, in the starting lineup no less.
It should come as little surprise to Mariners fans that the player in question is none other than 24-year-old Julio Rodríguez. This is the third consecutive time he has been included in the roster as the starting center field. Given his age, it will also represent his final appearance in The Athletic’s annual tradition.
Although Rodríguez gets the nod as starter, Stephen J. Nesbitt added that there is a case to be made for Jackson Merrill of the San Diego Padres. The reason for Nesbitt even contemplating this is due to an offensive regression by the Mariners’ two-time All-Star in the past couple of seasons.
A drop in productivity by Julio Rodríguez since his rookie year
As we wrote about recently, Rodríguez’s ability is not up for debate, with him having generational talent and superstar written all over him. However, the issue is that he just hasn’t been consistent enough to date with — among other things — his slash line, OPS, OPS+, rOBA, Rbat+ and WAR all declining in consecutive seasons after being named AL Rookie of the Year in 2022.
What makes this so frustrating for everyone in the Pacific Northwest is how good the two-time Silver Slugger Award winner looks when he gets in a zone, when he is capable of carrying the Mariners on his shoulders. The prime example of this came in August during the 2023 season, when he produced a stunning .429/.474/.724 slash line and 1.197 OPS and the team went 21-6.
There have been other instances of Rodríguez breaking out, and it is noteworthy that he found his bat again after Dan Wilson took over last August as manager. Wilson brought in former teammate Edgar Martínez to help the players with their hitting on an individual level, with J-Rod raving about how much the Baseball Hall of Famer helped him.
Almost inevitable to compare Julio Rodríguez to a Mariners legend
While it might seem unfair to make such comparisons so early into his Major League career, it is noteworthy that Rodríguez has actually performed better than Ken Griffey Jr. through three seasons in several categories. This includes 15.9-15.6 in WAR, 80-60 in home runs, 246-241 in RBI and 86-50 in stolen bases. (For some more context, Rodríguez has played 430 regular season games compared to 436 by Griffey at the same point.)
This is not to guarantee that Rodríguez is on a similar career path as Griffey, although it does look promising. At the end of the day, the Dominican Republic native may have the pure talent to be an all-time great, but all of the potential in the world doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t fulfill it.
It helps that Rodríguez’s talent is equaled by an excellent work ethic and willingness to learn, while always showing respect for the game. Now it’s a case of going out there and proving himself on a more regular basis, so that one day in the future Nesbitt will question why he even considered starting Merrill over the Mariners star in his MLB All-Under-25 team.