When it Comes to Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez and His Struggles, Two Words Come to Mind
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Entering play on Saturday, Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodriguez is hitting just .244 with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs. Though he did take Tarik Skubal deep in a 12-3 win on Friday night, it's been a grind for Rodriguez, who just pulled out of the MLB All-Star Game to rest and reset.
Reach Base Probability: 100% pic.twitter.com/2TaxEsL1K0
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 12, 2025
When it comes to Rodriguez's struggles this season, a lot has been discussed, but I've landed on two words: Approach, and identity.
Approach is something I've been talking about for months, but the idea of identity was raised on our most recent Refuse to Lose podcast, through a conversation with Joe Doyle of Overslot, and I discussed it further:
...You think he's figured it out, you think he's regressed, you think it's the approach, you think it's the mechanics, you think it's he's trying too hard... I have landed on basically, to me, one thought with Julio, that I think his approach is flawed right? I think his approach is flawed. You've heard me say that in various ways on several episodes right? I think what are you looking for, and when is the biggest question that Julio needs to answer. I think Joe also brought up a point that maybe I haven't brought up yet, that kind of dovetails off that. In addition to the to the word approach is the word identity. What is Julio's identity as a hitter and what and who does he want to be?
Does Julio want to be a contact hitter? A power hitter? He's still trying to figure that out.
You can listen to the full discussion in the podcast player below:
The Mariners (49-45) will take on the Tigers on Saturday at 10:10 a.m. PT.
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