Julio Rodríguez: Budding Superstar and AL All-Star
When Julio Rodríguez steps on the field, there is an air of anticipation that he will do something special.
Maybe that’s stealing a base (or 18 of them). Maybe that’s blasting a 450-foot home run. Or, maybe it’s simply spreading the joy that he plays the game with.
The All-Star Game is where the biggest talents and the biggest personalities take center stage — if you don’t think Rodríguez fits that description, you may need to reexamine the stats.
Rodríguez’s 18 stolen bases are tied for the MLB lead this season. But it’s not just his wheels that have set him apart, he is also consistently hitting the ball hard. He has recorded 12 base hits that have recorded an exit velocity of 110+ MPH, which ranks 4th in the AL, trailing only Giancarlo Stanton, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Aaron Judge.
There are only two players that have hit a home run at least 450 feet and have stolen at least 10 bags this season — Rodríguez and Ronald Acuña Jr.
On his way to becoming May’s AL Rookie of the Month, Rodríguez ranked among the AL rookie leaders in virtually every offensive category in May, including 1st in hits (34), T-1st in HR (6), 2nd in RBI (17), 4th in average (.309), T-1st in stolen bases (5) and 1st in wRC+ (156) (minimum 30 PA).
The Dominican-born outfielder tallied 9 multi-hit games and 6 games with 3+ hits during the month of May, becoming the first player age 21-or-younger to tally at least that many 3+ hit games in a calendar month since Baltimore’s Manny Machado tallied 7 in May 2013.
Rodríguez became the 3rd Mariners player 21-years-old or younger to reach base 5 times in a game when he went 4-for-4 with a home run and a walk on May 15 at New York-NL, joining Alex Rodríguez (3x) and Ken Griffey Jr. (3x).
Rodríguez (208,826 votes) currently ranks 12th in AL outfielder All-Star Voting, and will need to climb a minimum of 6 spots to move on to phase two of the voting (see below for full voting rules).
After a slow start to the season which saw Rodríguez slash .136/.208/.159 with 0 homers, 2 RBI and 4 stolen bases over his first 12 games, he has turned it around in a big way. Since April 22 he is slashing .292/.351/.474 with 8 home runs, 28 RBI and 14 stolen bases in 55 games. Among outfielders during that span, his fWAR of 2.1 is ranked T-6th in the Majors and his wRC+ of 158 is T-11th.
The J-Rod show has taken over at T-Mobile Park.
Next up? Dodger Stadium for the All-Star game.
Vote for your favorite Mariners at Mariners.com/Vote.
HOW THE VOTING WORKS:
On Thursday, June 30th, the top two vote-getters at each position (and the top six outfielders) in each League will be revealed on MLB Network at 5:00 p.m. (ET), and they will advance to the second phase of voting to determine who makes the All-Star teams and starts for each League. In addition, for the first time since two-phase balloting began in 2019, the leading vote-getter in each league during the first phase of voting will receive an automatic starting assignment at the All-Star Game and bypass the second phase of voting. If an outfielder is a league’s leading vote-getter, Phase 2 voting at the position will still take place to determine the remaining two starters among the next four outfield finalists.
Phase 2 will begin at 12:00 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday, July 5th, with fans voting among the finalists at each position during a four-day window that concludes at 2:00 p.m. (ET) on Friday, July 8th. Later that night, the winners will be announced on the 2022 Chevrolet MLB All-Star Starters Reveal (details to follow). During this second phase of voting, in which fans can vote once on MLB platforms, vote totals will reset (i.e., vote totals from Phase 1 do not carry over) and the winner at each position (including three outfielders per League) will be named a starting position player for the 2022 Midsummer Classic.
NOTE: Stats accurate for games completed through June 20.
