Julio Rodríguez shows in atlanta braves jersey grey Home Run Derby why he's a future face of baseball
July 19, 2022
LOS ANGELES — Juan Soto won the Home Run Derby, but Julio Rodríguez stole the show Monday e atlanta braves home jersey vening at Dodger Stadium.
This showcase event will be forever remembered as the day the rest of baseball met Rodríguez, the budding 21-year-old superstar who has reinvigorated baseball in Seattle.
MORE: Home Run Derby records: All you need to know
“He’s electric, that’s the best way to describe him,” fellow Mariners All-Star Ty France told The Sporting News on Monday afternoon. “He loves playing baseball. To be able to have a front-row seat to watch w Freddie Freeman Dodgers Jerseys hat he’s doing, it’s pretty special.”
Mariners fans know and love him, of course. And how could they not?
Rodríguez hit 32 home runs in the opening round, booting Corey Seager (24). In the second round he hit 31 more, becoming the first player to reach the 30-homer plateau twice in one Derby. That time, he booted two-time defending champ Pete Alonso, who hit 22. In the final round, he hit 18 more, but Soto caught fire and passed Rodriguez in the bonus round.
“He’s an amazing, young, talented player,” Soto said afDooney & Bourke terward.
And Rodriguez did all this while smiling the whole time.
This is a guy who, during spring training, would spend the morning of night games — like March 26, as an exampleYasiel Puig — giving away free Mariners’ swag around the complex. And for Rodríguez, it wasn’t as much about giving fans some freebies, but about meeting the people who love the team.
“When I was a kid growing up I always wanted to meet really good players, baseball players,” he told me that day. “So me being able to be in the spot that I am right now, just basically meet with people is a good feeling.”
Yeah. This is a kid Mariners fans fell for instantly.
The Kid certainly did. I had the chance to chat with M’s legend Ken Griffey Jr earlier this season, so of course I asked about the phenom known as J-Rod.
“I just start laughing, because he’s such a great kid. He’s so fun to watch,” Griffey told me. “What he does is he brings back that youthfulness that we need in this sport. And it doesn’t matter what color you are, when you show that type atlanta braves jersey 5xl of excitement and have fun, that’s important. It’s going to carry over, not only with his teammates but to other teams, and it’s also going atlanta braves infant jersey to carry over to the kids outside that locker room that watch him, who want to star wear atlanta braves cooperstown jersey ing No. 44.”
MORE: Every player to win the Home Run Derby since 1985
The thing that is so impressive about Rodríguez is that he does just about everything well.
He had 16 home runs in the first half, but he also had 21 stolen bases. That total’s just one off the AL lead, held by Baltimore’s Jorge Mateo.
Think about that. The slugger who knocked out a two-time defending Home Run Derby champion is a 21-year-old rookie who is second in the AL in stolen bases. atlanta braves jersey navy
France didn’t mince words when talking about J-Rod’s place in the sport.
“He’s going to be the face of baseball for a long time,” he said.
MORE: 2022 Home Run Derby: Full results, highlights
The Mariners brought him up with the club for Opening Day, opting not tMLB Snapback Hats o play service-time games with their phenom. He did struggle early, going just 6-for-44 (.136) in his first dozen big-league games. Not that you would have known it by watching him.
“That’s one of the best things about him, regardless whether he goes 0-for-4 or 4-for-4, he’s the same all the time,” France said. “He loves the game. He’s happy to be playing baseball.”
And baseball is happy he’s happy playing baseball, because he is exactly the type of player baseball needs as a future superstar.