Julio Rodriguez gives T-Mobile Park fans a Home Run Derby performance they’ll never forget
From virtually the minute last year’s All-Star Game ended at Dodger Stadium, with Julio Rodriguez emerging as the new breakout star of baseball, visions of a Seattle showcase for Rodriguez in 2023 inevitably rose to the forefront.
With the All-Star Game at T-Mobile Park, and Rodriguez on the doorstep of true superstardom, it seemed a match made in baseball heaven. Surely, this year’s Midsummer Classic was set up to be The JRod Show, to borrow Rodriguez’s social media handle — a hometown coronation of baseball’s newest royalty.
And then the season started, and Rodriguez didn’t soar anywhere close to the heights foreseen for him. His numbers aren’t bad by any means, just not in the stratosphere. It took an injury replacement to even get him on the All-Star squad, and some even grumbled that Rodriguez’s earlier placement in the Home Run Derby was mere pandering to the home crowd.
But on Monday, none of that seemed relevant. What mattered was Rodriguez somehow finding a way to top his spectacular 2022 spectacle — at least for one transcendent round — and turn the ballpark into a roaring, chanting mass of hero worship.
For about 10 glorious minutes, Rodriguez owned T-Mobile Park like few ever have. If last year’s breakout show at Dodger Stadium had been epic, what he did in the first round Monday requires a new adjective to connote an athlete rising to the moment.
Rodriguez blasted 41 homers, the most ever in a single round, one more than the previous high by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in 2019 in Cleveland. As the round progressed, and the thunderous chants of “Julio! Julio! Julio!” rang out, his fellow All-Stars became increasingly engaged. A National League quartet of Ronald Acuna Jr., Orlando Arcia, Ozzie Albies and Elias Diaz stood shoulder to shoulder, literally jumping up and down in glee after each ball left the park.
Advertising
During his allotted timeout mid-round, Rodriguez was surrounded by Mariners teammates Luis Castillo and George Kirby, as well as Luis Arraez and Juan Soto, who had vanquished Rodriguez in the championship round last year. Castillo fanned him with a towel as Geraldo Perdomo of the Diamondbacks did the same with a pillow.
When Rodriguez finished, his last blast supplanting Guerrero, he let out a primal scream, flexed and received the plaudits of his AL brethren. Give a hat tip to Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr., the three-time Derby champ who watched the proceedings from the side with his camera, but earlier had given Rodriguez a pro tip.
“He told me before the Derby to catch the ball a little bit out front, and that’s what I did in that first round,’’ Rodriguez said.
Earlier in the day, Pete Alonso of the Mets had reflected on being ousted in the second round by the emergent Rodriguez last year despite a healthy output of his own, 31 to 24.
“I had a decent round, but he just had a flat-out better round,’’ he said. “He was unconscious last year, so it’s going to be fun. I know he’s going to be amped up, ready to go. But, I mean, I will be, too.”
The T-Mobile Park fans had booed the Astros mascot, Orbit, when he was introduced before the workout. Alonso didn’t quite get that treatment when he stepped to the plate after Rodriguez, but they lustily cheered each of his swings that didn’t result in a home run. And once again, Alonso fell victim to an unconscious Rodriguez despite a solid 21 blasts.
Advertising
But perhaps as a metaphor of his first half, Rodriguez was not able to sustain his early prowess. Clearly gassed in the second round against Guerrero — he let out a deep exhale in the post-Derby news conference when asked to describe his physical state — Rodriguez hit “just” 20 homers. He was easily beaten by Vlad Jr., who hit his walk-off 21st with 45 seconds remaining in bonus time, before going on to beat Randy Arozarena for the title, 16 years after his dad was Derby champion in San Francisco.
That made it an anti-climactic night for Rodriguez and the crowd of 46,952. But Julio said he simply couldn’t muster the same energy in the second round. He got just a short rest before having to go first in his match with Guerrero.
“It feels like your mind is there, but your body’s not,’’ he said. “That’s the best way to put it.”
But Rodriguez at least give the Seattle crowd a hearty taste of what it came for, even if it was fleeting.
“It definitely felt really exciting,’’ he said. “The whole crowd was in it. My whole goal, once I stepped on the field, was to give a show to the crowd. Just give them something they would enjoy. I hope they enjoyed my performance out there.”
It wasn’t quite so carefree for Mariners manager Scott Servais, who will be a coach for AL manager Dusty Baker in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
Advertising
Last year, when Rodriguez hit a staggering 81 homers at Dodger Stadium, he missed four games shortly after the All-Star break with a sore wrist. The injury stemmed from a game just before the break when his wrist jammed into the leg of the Rangers’ Marcus Semien on a stolen-base attempt. But Rodriguez admitted last year that his wrist felt sore when he woke up on the day after the Derby.
In the end, it was just a brief blip of concern. Rodriguez had a brilliant second half to lead the Mariners into the postseason and hasn’t had any residual wrist problems. Yet Servais admits that he’s still a bit apprehensive — though not to the point that he wants Rodriguez to sit it out.
“I think you don’t want to take that away,’’ he said. “That’s what makes Julio Julio, right? He’s got a little bit of the star quality. He likes being out in front of the big crowd, the bright lights. I don’t ever want him to lose any of that.
“So you keep your fingers crossed that everything goes OK and he comes out of healthy. But he’s going to take more swings tonight than he’s taken in quite a while. He’s prepared. He’s gone through this before so he knows how to handle it a little bit better.”
Alonso, who is one of America’s leading authorities on the Home Run Derby and its ramifications, having won it twice, said that injury is never a concern for him.
“For me, I usually take a lot of swings during my day. So it’s just another day, another day of BP — just with a ton of people watching, and being televised, nationwide and worldwide. That’s it.”
Sponsored
As for the notion — no longer as prevalent as it used to be — that the Derby is to be avoided because it messes up your swing, Alonso scoffed.
“I don’t buy it one bit,’’ he said.
In fact, Alonso’s reasoning should provide some optimism for Rodriguez’s second half.
“It’s helped me perform in the second half. Every year I’ve done it, I’ve had a better second half than I have a first half. For me, the Derby forces you to have a super-efficient, tight, consistent swing. And I enjoy doing it because I think it ingrains good habits. That’s what I need to perform in the game. So it’s the same principle performing in the Derby.”
On Monday, Julio Rodriguez certainly performed in the Derby — not quite the trip to baseball heaven that would have made it an all-time night, but one that will nevertheless be long remembered in Seattle.
Source: The Seattle Times
