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Seattle Mariners' Julio flashes early power with his 2nd HR
Julio Rodríguez has not traditionally been the fastest starter in his Seattle Mariners career, but that may be changing.
At least when it comes to power.
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Seattle’s 24-year-old superstar center fielder connected for his second home run of the young season on Friday afternoon, taking new San Francisco pitcher Justin Verlander deep to the opposite field in the Giants’ home opener at Oracle Park.
Watch it here.
That’s no easy ballpark to homer in, either. With a 78 park factor on home runs through last year, Oracle Park is the hardest place to go yard in all of baseball. For comparison, the Mariners’ T-Mobile Park has a 96 home run park factor, which is 19th in MLB.
Making it all the more impressive is Rodríguez hit his homer against a nine-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and a former MVP. Sure, Verlander is 42, but he’s still Justin Verlander, less than a couple years removed from posting a 3.22 ERA.
Entering this year, Rodríguez had struggled to hit for power in the early months of the season. He had just six career home runs in the months of March and April, five of which came in 2023. But he got on the board this year with a mammoth homer to the upper deck in left field at T-Mobile Park last Sunday, which was the first time he’d ever left the park in March. Now he’s flexed his ability to go the way with Friday’s oppo taco.
Watch: Julio Rodríguez blasts first HR of the 2025 season
With the solo shot off of Verlander, Rodríguez improved his season slash line to .217/.400/.565 for a .965 OPS in eight games (30 plate appearances). Also worth mentioning is the potential for more patience this year. With five walks already, Rodríguez sports a nice 16.7% walk rate. For his career, Rodríguez’s walk rate is 6.8%.
The Mariners are in San Francisco for a three-game set, which in addition to being their first road trip of 2025 will be their shortest. The M’s will be right back in Seattle on Monday for three games against Verlander’s old team, the Houston Astros, followed by three more against another AL West rival, the Texas Rangers.
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