Mariners' Star Julio Rodriguez Continues to Regress in First Halves of Seasons
It's been obvious to anyone who has watched the Seattle Mariners this season that the first half of the year has been a struggle for Julio Rodriguez.
His power is down (seven homers), his average is down (.252), his strikeout percentage is higher than it's ever been (27.5 percent), his barrel percentage is the lowest it's ever been (8.8) and his chase rate is one of the worst in baseball.
Unfortunately, this is now part of a disturbing trend for Rodriguez in the first halves of seasons.
Per @JayHayKid of the "Baseball is Dead" podcast:
Julio Rodríguez through first 82 games, by season:
2022: .823 OPS, 15 HR
2023: .724 OPS, 13 HR
2024: .638 OPS, 7 HR
Julio Rodríguez through first 82 games, by season:
— nugget chef (@jayhaykid) June 26, 2024
2022: .823 OPS, 15 HR
2023: .724 OPS, 13 HR
2024: .638 OPS, 7 HR
Now, Rodriguez rebounded last year to finish with 32 homers and 103 RBI, so he certainly has it in him, but it's been tough to watch at times for Rodriguez this year. The stats back up what most of our eyes are seeing: He's swinging at almost everything thrown to him, isn't taking walks and just isn't doing the kind of damage that he's capable of. He's hitting the ball on the ground far too often and isn't punishing mistake pitches.
You can see more charts on his struggles from Baseball Savant.
All that said, the M's have no choice but to stick with Rodriguez and hope he turns a corner like he did last season. There's all this talk about what the M's can do to improve the offense at the trade deadline, but there's no better move that can be made than a productive Rodriguez.
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