‘Watch out’: New approach an encouraging sign for Mariners’ Julio Rodriguez

SEATTLE – People may have shrugged their shoulders and point out that this was merely one plate appearance in one game in late March. Julio Rodriguez, surely, will step to the plate in much bigger games and much bigger moments for the Mariners this season.

But the result of Rodriguez’s plate appearance in the eighth inning Friday night – a six-pitch walk – was a clear indication for manager Scott Servais that much bigger things could be in store for the Mariners’ 23-year-old star this season.

“That’s a sign of a young superstar maturing,” Servais said after the Mariners’ 1-0 victory over the Red Sox late Friday.

A bigger moment arrived just one game later, as Rodriguez delivered a walk-off single in the 10th inning, the first game-winning hit of his young career.

Last year in Rodriguez’s second season, he would go on to finish fourth in the AL MVP voting, but a persistent storyline throughout the 2023 season was his struggles in late-game situations.

Too often, as Servais has talked about openly this spring, Rodriguez would try to do too much in those situations. He wanted so badly to deliver for his team, to be the hero, that he would expand the strike zone and swing at pitches off the plate, getting himself out in the process.

A focus for Rodriguez coming into this season was to be more disciplined, more patient. To make pitchers pitch him in the zone, to trust teammates hitting behind him.

And that’s exactly what he did in two late-game at-bats against the Red Sox. Setting the stage for Saturday’s walk-off, on Friday Rodriguez took a 3-2 slider that was several inches off the plate, taking his walk and loading the bases for Jorge Polanco.

(It nearly paid off, too. Polanco hit a line drive, with an expected batting average of .640 per Statcast data, that just happened to be right at Boston first baseman Triston Casas for the final out of the inning.)

“In that moment, I was really curious,” Servais said. “We saw that moment come up a lot last year. And he would swing at that 3-2 pitch, or maybe that 2-2 pitch that was just off (the plate) and he maybe wouldn’t get his best swing off because it was not a strike. For him to be disciplined in that moment – you’re going to hear me talk about that a lot this year – because if he continues to focus on that, it’s going to be great things for the Mariners in 2024.”

The Mariners got a taste of that discipline on Saturday, when Rodriguez his an opposite field single to clinch a win with two strikes.

“Watch out,” Servais said. “If he continues to do that all year, he’s going to have a special year.”