“The J-Rod Show”: Julio Rodriguez debuts, singles in first T-Mobile Park at-bat
The moment was 21 years in the making for Julio Rodriguez. He couldn’t hold back his smile.
Rodriguez stood inside T-Mobile Park’s maintenance tunnel in right-center field, part of the team’s home-opening pregame festivities. One by one – and staggered, purposefully – each member of Seattle’s 2022 active roster took to the field, jogged down the T-Mobile-themed pink carpet, and convened along the first base line to a roar of applause.
“I (heard) the noise,” Rodriguez told reporters. “And I was like, ‘Okay, this is about to be fire.’
“That’s what went through my head.”
Rodriguez, batting eighth in Friday’s lineup, was the penultimate name called. First were coaches and trainers. Then came relievers and reserves.
Team staples, like Mitch Haniger and Ty France, generated plenty of applause.
But no player received an ovation like Julio. Even the chorus of boos for Astros infielder Jose Altuve, announced moments prior, were no match.
Before public address announcer Tom Hutyler could name him over T-Mobile Park’s sound system, fans erupted in cheers when Rodriguez appeared on the video scoreboard in center field, welcomed home for the very first time.
The Julio Rodriguez era in Seattle – considered by many as the “J-Rod Show” – had officially begun.
Rodriguez knew of the hype surrounding his name that, in part, brought some 45,023 fans to Friday’s game. After Thursday’s win in Chicago, he tweeted: “Coming home!”
“I’m excited,” Rodriguez told The News Tribune before Friday’s game. “I’ve never been able to play on this field, my home field. I’m just excited to play in front of Mariners fans… to actually get the chance to play in front of them.”
If any player received an ovation worthy of comparison to Rodriguez, it was Ichiro, who threw out the game’s ceremonial first pitch. And Julio, baseball’s third-ranked prospect, was behind home plate to receive it: a quick fastball that left Ichiro’s right hand and brushed the outside edge of the plate. Actually, Rodriguez catching the pitch was Ichiro’s idea, he said.
“That was probably the hardest first pitch I’ve ever seen in my life,” he added.
Friday marked the first game at T-Mobile Park since three consecutive sellout crowds packed the stands full to watch the Mariners contend for a last-gasp postseason spot in Oct. 2021. Had MLB’s lockout not postponed the season, Seattle would have celebrated their home opener on March 31.
But the next sellout would have to wait for Friday’s game against division-rival Houston. So would Rodriguez’s debut.
“It’s the big leagues,” Rodriguez said. “It’s something I dreamed to be a part of, but it’s new to me. I’m just enjoying every single (moment), and soaking it all in.”
Seattle’s center fielder played in six of the team’s first seven road games to open the 2022 season. He powered the Mariners to a late-inning comeback with a leadoff double in the ninth inning back on April 9, also good for his first major league hit. He’s now 3-for-25, despite striking out five times on dubious calls from home plate umpires.
But the young Rodriguez says he’s “sticking to his roots” amid a start he didn’t expect.
“Don’t ever change how you play,” Servais told Rodriguez after notifying him he had earned a spot on the major league roster last month. “Play with joy and energy. And be you.
“It’s the major leagues,” Servais added Friday inside Seattle’s dugout. “One guy is going to experience it for the first time tonight in Julio, and this is what you dream about. I always joke with the players: there’s only really one time I miss playing, and that’s opening day. You get the butterflies, there’s excitement… it’s a fresh start.”
And so Julio, in his first career at-bat at T-Mobile Park, ripped a single to left field for a base hit. Rodriguez declined Houston starter Jake Odorizzi’s first offering: an 80-mph slider, instead called for strike one. When Odorizzi delivered the same slider again, Julio connected on a second-inning line drive beyond the reach of third baseman Alex Bregman and into the outfield for a single.
In his second at-bat, Rodriguez worked a walk after falling behind in the count and later scored on Adam Frazier’s two-out, two-run triple in the fourth inning. He’d finish 1-for-4 (plus the fourth-inning walk and run scored) after a fourth-inning flyout, sixth-inning strikeout, and eighth-inning groundout to the shortstop.
“It was amazing,” Rodriguez said. “I really loved the atmosphere. All of the people there… it was even better than I imagined, honestly.”
Other new faces in Seattle’s home clubhouse agreed. Jesse Winker, acquired from the Cincinnati Reds last month, said tonight’s atmosphere was the best he’s ever seen as a player. Adam Frazier, acquired via trade from San Diego before baseball’s lockout, told reporters that T-Mobile Park’s sellout crowd “brought the electricity.”
Marco Gonzales spun a seven-inning, one-run gem and Seattle claimed their home opener over Houston, 11-1. Rodriguez notched his first base hit in Seattle, and Frazier wound up a home run shy of the cycle.
Before Winker’s first home at-bat, he asked Servais, re the crowd: “Is it like this every night?”
Servais’ reply: “Yeah — keep winning, it’s like this. No, it was great. A great way to start the year.”
