Seattle Mariners Appear Ready to Make Major Change with Julio Rodriguez in Spring Training

Seattle Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto said the team could give their face of the franchise more reps in spring training to avoid another slow start.

Teren Kowatsch | Nov 17, 2024

Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez reacts after hitting a home run against the Texas Rangers on Sept. 20 at Globe Life Field. / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

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Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners offense was the main reason the franchise missed out on the playoffs for the 22nd time in 23 years in 2024.

The offense, at one point, was on pace to make the wrong kind of MLB history for the most strikeouts by a single team in a season. They ended up avoiding setting a new all-time mark in that category, but still finished dead last in the league in that statistic with 1,625.

Coinciding with the offense's struggles, Seattle's face of the franchise, Julio Rodriguez, had the worst season of his three-year career. He batted .273 with 20 homers and 68 RBIs. He also missed three weeks with an ankle sprain and was out of the outfield for over a month due to the same injury.

Rodriguez finished the year strong and hit .328 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs in September. But it was another season marked by a slow start. He hit .267 in April, .274 in May and .206 in June.

The Julio Rodríguez vs. Héctor Neris rematch from last September's benches-clearing incident in Seattle ends with the Mariners' center fielder going deep.

With it, Rodríguez secures a 20/20 season -- his third straight to begin his career. pic.twitter.com/wY5yu6xX2B
— Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) September 25, 2024

Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto went on the ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast hosted by insider Buster Olney on Saturday to talk about Rodriguez's slow starts, and offered a possible solution the team and the two-time All-Star might explore.

"It's not due to a lack of preparation. Nobody works harder than Julio. I visited with him just early last month shortly after the season was over. He has a very structured and disciplined plan for how he approaches his offseason. He has, over the course his major league career, been more likely to start slow and finish fast. And our goal is to find a way to extend that over a seven-month period. And he's proven to be one of the most talented and productive players in the game. We would love to see that start a little more in April or May and not wait until the weather warms so much and I know that's a focus for him. ... It's not his training programs, it's not a willingness to work and, frankly, it's not a desire issue. He gets out there and wants to get after it. ... We've already talked about getting more reps in Spring Training and maybe dial it back to the way it was in the (1990s) when the rest of us played. Instead of getting the 40 or 50 plate appearances in prep for the season, looking at something more like 70 or 90."

On the podcast, https://t.co/6dxPf6Zi00 Jerry Dipoto discussed Julio Rodriguez's recnet history of slow starts. pic.twitter.com/sQjKNIFSZp
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 15, 2024

Even though the offense's struggles last year extended way beyond Rodriguez, it's been said by several media personalities and analysts that Seattle goes as far as he goes.

The organization would likely to mitigate the risk of injury to their franchise centerpiece. But they also want to avoid another slow start. More at-bats in spring training could be the solution.

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Published Nov 17, 2024