Commentary: There’s no longer a question, the Mariners can’t leave Julio Rodriguez off the opening day roster
The great Mariners drama of the spring has slowly ceased to be dramatic.
The burning question has subtly shifted from “Will Julio Rodriguez be on the opening day roster?” to “How can he not be?”
I will go a step further: He’s got to be.
At least, if the Mariners are serious about maximizing their chances of making the playoffs, which should be their paramount goal considering how long it has been. They most definitely have a team to get there in 2022, but it is not so definitive that they can slow-play a guy who is proving more and more with each passing day that he belongs. And can play a major role in their quest.
Maybe it was that high, arcing tape-measure home run in Rodriguez’s very first at-bat of spring that set this in an irreversible direction. Never mind that it was a hanging slider from a pitcher destined for the minor leagues. Rodriguez showed in one fell swoop (that produced one swell loop) his prodigious talent and his knack for rising to, and above, the moment.
Or maybe it was the fact that every day of camp seems to reveal some new and intoxicating element in Rodriguez’s arsenal – surprising speed, a strong and accurate arm, an ability to hold his own in center field.
It also has cemented what we already knew, that Rodriguez possesses an “it” quality that oozes out of every pore. His quote on Thursday night, via Ryan Divish, about the emotion he showed in that night’s game speaks to his maturity: “It’s just an everyday thing for me. I like having fun. I’m living my dream. I’m playing baseball. This is what I love to do, so why not do it and enjoy it? I feel there’s a lot of kids out there that are watching me play, yelling out my name. I feel I want to give them the best impression of myself that I have.”
His teammates see it, too. It was said in spring of 1989, when 19-year-old Ken Griffey Jr. wowed his way onto the team – when Seattle management really didn’t intend to put him there – that to send Griffey to the minor leagues would have alienated the clubhouse. The players knew he was ready. And I get the same vibe with Rodriguez.
No one is naïve enough to think that it’s guaranteed to go smoothly. The arguments against this move are readily apparent, and sound. Rodriguez is just 21 years old. He’s played a mere 46 games above Class A and hasn’t even touched Triple-A. Everyone saw Jarred Kelenic, a touted prospect in his own right, struggle mightily when he came up to the Mariners at age 21 last year, after just a very brief stint in Tacoma.
Maybe the smartest thing, as Rainiers announcer Mike Curto suggested in a tweet Friday, would be to give Rodriguez a month in Tacoma to see Triple-A pitchers who command their breaking pitches. I could see the logic in that, too.
As a counterpoint, I present Thursday night in Peoria, Arizona. Rodriguez was coming off a game Wednesday that showed off his youth. He made a baserunning gaffe (after a booming double, it must be pointed out). He struck out three times. He looked every bit of a raw 21-year-old.
And then, on Thursday, Rodriguez showed first an ability to shake off a bad game, which is an essential quality that Kelenic still must master. And then he provided the most electrifying moment of the spring – an inside-the-park home run on a drive off the wall in right-center that accentuated both his athleticism and his charisma. The Mariners are in dire need of both qualities.
Rodriguez had barely crossed the plate when Dave Sims on the ROOT Sports broadcast expressed to Mike Blowers what everyone watching no doubt was thinking: “He’s making this club, Mike! He’s making this club!”
That official decision should come soon – perhaps by the end of the weekend. But it’s hard to imagine why the Mariners would keep putting Rodriguez in the lineup every day, mostly in center field, if they planned to run someone else out there on opening day in Minnesota on Thursday.
It’s getting harder to imagine how they can come to any other conclusion than that Rodriguez gives them their best lineup, and thus their best chance to win.
General manager Jerry Dipoto said at the outset of spring that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Rodriguez being so overwhelmingly impressive that the Mariners had no choice but to put him on the roster. It would seem that J-Rod has done just that, to the point that all the counterarguments – the need for more minor-league seasoning, service-time considerations – are becoming increasingly moot.
Yes, it would be a gamble, a big one, but the Mariners are at a point where a bold gamble with a huge potential payoff is warranted. Virtually everyone who has watched Rodriguez, not just this spring but throughout his career, believes they are watching a prodigy.
And prodigies deserve the chance to do special things.