Mariners notes: Top prospect Julio Rodriguez crushes Cactus League homer No. 1
How did the Mariners respond when top prospect Julio Rodriguez crushed his first career Cactus League home run during Tuesday night’s rout of the Royals?
“Everybody in the dugout was just like, ‘Wow.’ Veteran players, young players, coaches — all of us,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said on a postgame video call. “It was pretty special.”
The 20-year-old outfielder entered the game as a pinch hitter in the fifth inning, worked a 3-1 count and then clobbered a fastball from Royals pitching prospect Carlos Hernandez deep to right center.
The blast was estimated at 437 feet.
“I can’t believe he hit that ball as hard as he did tonight,” Servais said. “I’ve been around this game a long time, and to see a young guy turn around on a 97-98 mph fastball and drive it out of the park like that — you don’t see that very often.
“He’s a really special talent and a really fun personality to be around every day.”
Rodriguez finished 2-for-3 with the solo homer and a hustle double, and drove in two runs.
Playing in his third major league camp, Rodriguez is hitting 7-for-22 (.318) with two doubles, the home run, five walks, nine strikeouts and two stolen bases in 13 appearances.
His on-base (.444) and slugging (.545) percentages entering the day rank among Seattle’s best this spring.
Servais has seen Rodriguez continue to grow at the plate this spring. Rodriguez has been able to slow down his at-bats, is disciplined in his approach and isn’t chasing.
The results are showing.
“He wants to show us what kind of talent he has, and he loves playing baseball,” Servais said. “ … He’s got a ton of energy and he’s got a lot to prove.”
Rodriguez spent last season training at the club’s alternate camp in Tacoma — though he was limited by a wrist injury — after hitting .326/.390/.540 with 26 doubles, three triples, 12 homers and 69 RBI between Low-A and High-A in 2019.
The power Rodriguez has the potential to bring at the plate is what is often talked about, but Servais noted how the young prospect continues to work at being a complete player.
“He doesn’t want to just be a slugger,” Servais said. “He wants to be a baseball player, where he’s a good defender, he can throw, he controls the strike zone, he runs the bases well.
“He does all of the things you’re looking for to be an All-Star caliber player once he gets a little bit more experience.”
SHEFFIELD BOUNCES BACK
Servais said he knew young starter Justus Sheffield would have a good outing Tuesday.
“He was pretty disappointed and disgusted with how things went last time,” Servais said. “He’s just not used to getting banged around like that. You find out a lot about guys when the get punched in the mouth, and he came right back tonight.
“He was ready to go and really locked in from the first pitch.”
Six days after Sheffield got roughed up by the Rangers — he allowed six runs (all earned) on seven hits, including two home runs, and walked three in 2 1/3 innings — he rallied for his best start of the spring against the Royals.
Sheffield worked four scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and two walks. He struck out six batters.
“I was definitely itching to get back out there, especially after that last one,” he said. “I felt like that last one, I didn’t really bring enough energy and I really wanted to treat tonight more like a start, like a real game. It was good to kind of get those get those feels, get those jitters going.”
His changeup, slider and the two-seam fastball he debuted about this time last spring were all working against Kansas City.
“He had a lot of swing-and-misses tonight on all of his pitches,” Servais said. “His strikeout pitch typically is his slider. I thought he threw some good ones tonight. The changeup had a lot of depth to it, and you saw some swings and misses on the fastball as well.”
Sheffield maps out to get two more starts before the Mariners break camp at the end of the month.
“I feel like I’m definitely ahead of where I was last year, but there’s still work to be done,” he said. “I don’t think I’m a finished product yet.”
KELENIC RETURNS
Top prospect Jarred Kelenic returned to the lineup Wednesday night, entering the game in the fifth and playing left field.
The 21-year-old outfielder had not played since March 5 while recovering from an adductor strain. He had two plate appearances, walking once and grounding out.
“Obviously excited to get back in the game,” Servais said postgame. “He was fired up to do it. Great that he got two at-bats. Didn’t really know if that would happen in a seven-inning game tonight, but we were able to put some base runners out there to turn the lineup over.
“Certainly Jarred always looks great in the batter’s box. He’s ready to go. He’s on every pitch, be but he hadn’t played in (12) days, so it will take him a little bit to get his timing back, but I thought he looked fine tonight.”
HOME RUN TRACKER
The Mariners are sitting at 12 players who have launched home runs this spring.
The latest came off the bat of first baseman Evan White, who sent a grand slam ball onto the berm in left center Wednesday night in Peoria for his first homer of the spring.
“Evan’s got big-time power,” Servais said postgame.
Ty France — who continues to lead the club offensively, hitting .423/.516/.962 through 11 games — is the team leader with four. That mark was also tied for second-most across spring camps entering the day.
Spring addition Jack Reinheimer ranks second in Seattle’s clubhouse with two.
Kelenic, Rodriguez, Jake Fraley, Mitch Haniger, Dylan Moore, Tom Murphy, Kyle Seager, Taylor Trammell and Jantzen Witte each have one.
ROSTER MOVES
The Mariners have started thinning out their camp with two weeks to go before the regular season begins, and have announced the following roster moves this week:
▪ Optioned to alternate site: RHP Bandon Brennan, RHP Wyatt Mills
▪ Optioned to Triple-A Tacoma: RHP Sam Delaplane
▪ Optioned to High-A Everett: RHP Juan Then
▪ Reassigned to minor league camp: C Carter Bins, INF Jordan Cowan, RHP Nick Duron, RHP Moises Gomez, RHP Emerson Hancock, RHP George Kirby, RHP Darren McCaughan, LHP Ian McKinney, C Josh Morgan, RHP Jaime Schultz, LHP Brandon Williamson
Seattle has 60 players remaining in its major league camp, including 36 rostered players, 23 non-roster invites and one player on the 60-day injured list.
