J-Rod's goal: Keep building on 2024's finishing outburst

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Julio Rodríguez has found himself in new territory each year he arrives at Spring Training, and sure enough, 2025 has brought the status of being among the Mariners’ most established players.

“I don't want to say I’m a veteran,” Seattle’s center fielder said. “That makes me feel a little old, but I kind of know my way around, I would say.”

Indeed, this spring Rodríguez is no longer the precocious prospect giddy about playing catch with Ichiro Suzuki (2021), the face of the future fighting his way onto the Opening Day roster ('22), the reigning American League Rookie of the Year ('23) or the star who fought through what he called a “sophomore slump” ('24).

Rodríguez has arrived in Arizona looking to take the next leap after both he and the Mariners finished on a much higher note after their midsummer spiral despite missing the postseason -- a trajectory of individual and team that ran parallel, and not by coincidence.

“I definitely took with me, like, the last six weeks, what we did as a team, what we did as an organization and everything, just kind of how we continue to push forward,” Rodríguez said. “We were right there again. So I definitely took those last six weeks with me into my offseason to try to carry into this year.”

Rodríguez finished last season as one of the sport’s most productive players.

Over Seattle’s final 34 games -- the stretch beginning on Aug. 23, when Edgar Martinez took over as interim hitting coach and Dan Wilson as manager -- Rodríguez slashed .313/.364/.537 (.902 OPS) with nine of his 20 homers. He was worth 1.8 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs, tied with AL MVP Aaron Judge for fourth best in baseball, and 159 wRC+ (league average is 100), 14th best.

For context, over his first 109 games, Rodríguez slashed .260/.310/.364 (.675 OPS) and was worth 2.0 WAR and 100 wRC+.

“I wanted to keep building on [the finish], because I feel like that's the type of player that I see myself as,” Rodríguez said. “Obviously, you always want to improve, but I think that player is really good.”

Finally recovering from the right high ankle sprain that sidelined him for three weeks certainly helped, especially given that he wasn’t 100% upon returning. But Rodríguez led the charge in crediting the more simplified approach that Martinez instilled as the leading cause for the Mariners’ offensive turnaround.

“They’ve connected so well, definitely in the hitting department,” Wilson said of Rodríguez and Martinez. “And the thing I always say this about ‘Gar’ is that the message that he brings is powerful, but it's the way in which he delivers it. And I know our guys appreciate that. Edgar comes at it with such humility.”

Martinez is back this year in a broader role as senior director of hitting strategy, with longtime Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer hired to take on everyday duties.

The message from Martinez and Seitzer this spring has again been simple: “Be more athletic in the batter’s box.”

“They have a really good mentality about hitting,” Rodríguez said of Martinez and Seitzer, “about approaching the game and different situations and things like that that actually give a good feel for the baseball game.”

There’s also the glaring reality that Rodríguez often shouldered Seattle’s team-wide struggles and the angst that came with it, especially as the club collapsed from a 10-game lead atop the AL West from June 19 to July 19.

“Great players know that there are certain times they have to be the guy that carries you through,” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said. “And I think Julio put a lot of that on himself early.”

The Mariners are banking on bouncebacks throughout their lineup -- from J.P. Crawford, Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver, among others -- but they believe they’ll have one of baseball's most dynamic outfields, anchored by Rodríguez and supplemented by 2024 breakout Victor Robles and Trade Deadline acquisition Randy Arozarena.

That trio has already attached to each other this spring, bantering and bonding.

“We're definitely going to be making a lot of fun plays back there and having fun playing the game,” Rodríguez said.

Rodríguez believes there’s still room for great growth, individually and team-wide. He has arrived at camp with clarity on how to do so.