Seattle Mariners Insider Discusses Slow Starts, End of 2024 For Julio Rodriguez
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There's hope for the Seattle Mariners offense to be better in 2025 than it was in 2024.
The offense improved over the last 34 games of the season under hitting coach (now senior director of hitting strategy) Edgar Martinez. In the offseason, Seattle hired Kevin Seitzer, who's offense averaged a ninth-place finish in batting average over his 10 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, as the new hitting coach.
There's also hope that the face of the franchise, Julio Rodriguez, can take a step forward and avoid the struggles that have plagued him in the first halves of his three pro seasons.
On the Foul Territory podcast, Rodriguez's potential was discussed between the hosts and Seattle Times Mariners beat writer Ryan Divish. The question was posed if Rodriguez can avoid the slow start in 2025:
"It took (Rodriguez) so long to get going last year, that it's a problem," Divish said. "They have to find a way. I think he's in a better spot to handle it. I think he's in a better spot mentally and physically. What he did in the last six weeks of the season with the influence of Edgar Martinez, getting him to refocus on driving the ball up the middle, into the right-center gap and kind of getting him away from trying to yank the ball over the wall in left field was big. Increase the contact rate — and he makes such hard contact when he does hit it — increase the contact rate a little bit more, and good things will happen. His approach was better with two strikes, his approach was better with runners in scoring position, I think that'll carry over."
Is Julio Rodriguez a hot-start away from MVP-level numbers? @RyanDivish and @ErikKratz31 debate pic.twitter.com/wC2xMvOAds
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) February 10, 2025
In addition to his slow start, Rodriguez missed three weeks and was held out of the outfield for a month with a right ankle sprain. Despite his injury, Rodriguez finished the last six weeks of the season on a strong note and hit for a .273 average with 20 home runs, 68 RBIs and 24 steals.
JULIO RODRIGUEZ GO-AHEAD HOME RUN! pic.twitter.com/Edi5pC6XUX
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 14, 2024
Rodriguez's slow start has been acknowledged by the media and several Seattle front office executives alike. And Rodriguez could lift the offense to higher heights in 2025 if he can start the year off where he left off in 2024.
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