Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodríguez is finally on the board. Sunday afternoon in Miami (GameTracker), Rodríguez launched his first career big-league home run, and long 450-foot blast to left-center field. It came off a brand name too: Sandy Alcantara. The Marlins elected to intentionally walk Abraham Toro with two outs to set up Rodríguez for the three-run blast.
Here's the video:
The 21-year-old Rodríguez has had a rough go of it in his first few weeks as a big leaguer, taking a .205/.284/.260 batting line into Sunday's game. His 30 strikeouts are the second most in baseball, though he's fallen victim to a bad luck strike zone at times. Rodríguez does lead baseball with nine stolen bases (in nine attempts).
Our R.J. Anderson ranked Rodríguez the No. 3 prospect in baseball coming into the season. Here's his write-up:
Rodríguez fits the right-field prototype with a middle-of-the-order offensive projection and a strong arm. He has well-above-average power and a better feel for contact than most with this profile. Indeed, Rodríguez struck out in just 18 percent of his plate appearances during his 46-game introduction to Double-A last season.
Last season Rodríguez demolished High Class-A and Double-A, authoring a .347/.441/.560 batting line with 13 home runs in 74 games split between the two levels. Rodríguez went 14 for 34 (.412) with three home runs in spring training to skip right over Triple-A and make Seattle's Opening Day roster.
