Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Star Julio Rodríguez Is Primed For an MVP Run in 2023

Episode Date: October 26, 2022

Despite enduring a rough first month in the big leagues and sustaining multiple injuries that required stints on the injured list, Julio Rodriguez is well on his way to being the American League's rookie of the year in 2022 after a remarkable first year in MLB. Ty and Colby review Julio's rookie campaign and discuss what surprised them, what didn't, what the future holds and more for the Seattle Mariners' star outfielder.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnMLB to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Julio Rodriguez captured the hearts of baseball fans in Washington State and around the world as a rookie in 2022. And guess what? He's going to be ours for a very, very long time. We're going to look back on Julio's first campaign at the major league level and tell you why this is only the beginning for Seattle's budding superstar. Colby hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.

It is Wednesday, October 26, 2022. This is Tiding Gonzalez and Colby Patnaud for the Locked-on Mariners podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. Subscribe, like, and turn on alerts if you're watching on YouTube, or subscribe and leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform if you like what you hear. And if you want to hear from us even more, please consider signing up for our Patreon. The link as well as our social accounts is in the description below. On the show today, we'll be starting our player reviews for the 2022 season with none other than Julio Rodriguez will tell you what we saw this year from Julio, what surprised us, what didn't, and what the future holds for the Mariners Star outfielder, and a whole lot more.

And Colby, it was not that long ago that you and I were on this podcast before the season talking about, you know, how the top prospects in the world that actually boom right out of the gate are the exception to the rule. They are not the standard. The Ronald Zucanis of the world, the Juan Soto's, of the world, the Fernando Tautices, etc. And that it was unfair to set those kinds of expectations on Julio

to be a superstar right out of the gate, no matter how exciting he was coming up through the ranks and all the exciting things that we had heard from Jerry to Poto and Scott's service and Andy McKay and the Mariners organization as a whole about Julio.

And it certainly looked like you know, that was going to be the case that he was going to have a rough time in the major leagues to adjust to major league pitching right away. The month of April was an absolute disaster for him. And of course, coming off of the year that Jared Kelnick had just had in 2021, it was like, okay, Mariner's fans just think that they just, they can't have nice things, right? You know, we can't have that superstar player right out of the gate, you know, a young 21-year-old

who just takes the league by storm. But once the calendar flipped to May, Colby, things changed. Julio became that superstar player and helped lead the Mariners to their first playoff birth in 21 years. And I'll just start out by asking you this. What was the most impressive thing to you from Julio's rookie campaign as a 21-year-old? It's probably that he didn't let the, you know, the rough first month sink his season.

You know, we've seen young guys come up and they struggle a little bit. And then the doubt starts to creep in and they start pressing. And, I mean, it's it's pretty easy to write that script for Jared Kelnick himself. So, you know, in Julio, it wasn't just that he wasn't getting hits. He was running into a ton of bad luck. Home plate umpires seemed like they were, it was their job to ring up Julio Rodriguez on any pitch that was within six inches of the strike zone. You know, and that was frustrating. And it's extremely frustrating for a 21-year-old who really believes in his,

his abilities and his skills and he knows that he's better than that and and it just never really phased him we never saw it um you know he he went out of his way to you know tell people that he wasn't going to react he wasn't going to you know get mad that's just not who he is he's he's you know i'll let scott handle that like that's just not um you know that's just not me uh and you know he just stuck with it he grounded grind it grind it out at bats after that and and uh you know it just kind of clicked on may first i think that was the sandy al contra game he had his first career home run and it was it was all off from there so you really think about it you know Julio essentially didn't really add much uh didn't add much

talent or much production in the month of april and then in the second half he ended up missing about three weeks of action uh from injury so really for the first you know There was about six weeks where the Mariners weren't getting anything from Julio. And Julio still ended up being their best player by like a mile. So it's all very impressive that Julio kind of went through the little slump there at the beginning of the year. But then after that, small slumps here and there, but never anything that, that, you know, got to the point where we were looking at Julio and going like, yeah, he needs to change that. He always seemed to be able to make the adjustment when necessary. and it just seems like he rarely made the same mistake twice.

You know, he would make adjustments to the swing in game and per at bat. And that kind of ability is pretty rare, especially for a 21-year-old who has like a thousand played appearances in the minors total. It was just really impressive to see just kind of process his first go around in the majors and deal with the struggles. it bodes very well for his future as you know the face of Major League Baseball if we're being honest And you saw

glimpses of it in that rough first month as well You know I go back To what was it the first or second game Of the year when he had that big double That helped them go on to To beat the twins like in that game I think that was game two

Or was that game one It was game one they won two to one Yeah Yeah Yeah, so they, you know, so it was moments like that where you could see like, all right, this kid is special. It's just not all coming together for him. And of course, there was the string of bad calls against them, all that. Overall in the month of April, 205, 284, 260 with a 61 WRC plus.

And then from that point forward, from May 1st to the end of the regular season slash 297, 355, 550, 550, a 550 slugging percentage, 161 WRC plus. He had 21 doubles, three triples, 28 home runs, 69, nice RBI, and 16 stolen bases. He was 16 of 23 in steel attempts. But this even, you know, this even goes back further. Beyond before the struggles in the first month of the season, it was, Julio's story really starts in spring training with the spring training that he had where he basically forced the Mariners hand. And, you know, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this.

When he did have his struggles in the first month of the season, was there at any point were you considering? And by the way, we have to, you know, note that the mayor didn't really have another clear cut option in center field at the time. But was there any point in time where you thought they should maybe send this guy down to AAA? No. Yeah. Not really. You could just, because you could just see the process was working. It was, you know, he's a handful of bad calls away from putting up a totally respectable month of April as a 21-year-old.

And the defense never suffered. You know, it was one of those questions we had. Can Julio play center field? It feels like they're trying to, you know, stick a right field or in center field again. And the defense was just really solid from day one. The base running was incredible. So even though he wasn't really hitting. you know up to his potential early on everything else was there and the exit velocity numbers were

great um you know there there were times where you're like okay Julio you're becoming incredibly predictable to pitch too you're going to chase that slider outside but he stopped doing it you know he made that adjustment and so no every time you would start to think like oh maybe the leaks figured Julio out uh Julio would adjust and he would change things and you would make it work and and and he always brought value on the bases and in the field. So there was never any reason. Even in the month of April, Julio was still probably the Mariners' third best player.

Like he was just, you could just see that things were going to turn around for him pretty early on. And the, you know, it certainly was paid off. But no, there was never really a time where you were like, boy,

he just looks lost. He never looked lost. You know, like I said, he'd go through some rough patches, but there are times when, you know, we've seen it with Kalkalik, we've seen it where you're just like, these guys don't have a chance. Like they have no shot of hitting this pitching.

Never saw that with Julio. It never looked like he was in over his head. So overall for Julio, he slashes 284, 345-509 with a 146 WRC plus. He's worth, he was worth 5.4 F4 as a 21-year-old rookie and is likely well on his way to be in the American League rookie of the year. The Mariners second American League rookie of the year in the last three seasons. And then in the postseason slash 217, 357, 435 with a 125 WRC plus. And like you said on yesterday's episode, you know, if he didn't sustain those injuries

that he did, he was easily getting to the 30-30 club. He ended up with 25 steals, 28 home runs. He was on his way. And I mean, he still did some things that. No one has really ever done in Major League Baseball history. But he was well on his way to doing even more of that, to reaching heights that no rookie has ever gone. It was an incredible season for him.

We're going to talk more about his season and talk about what surprised us, what didn't, all that good stuff in just a moment. But real quick, a reminder of this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Simply Safe Home Security. As everyone knows, athletes rise and fall in the ranks. but when it comes to saving money, Simply Safe always stays on top. And right now, you can save big with Simply Safe home security.

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Get 40% off your order when you visit Simplysafe.com slash Lockdown MLB today. Customize the perfect system for your home in just a few minutes. That's SimplySafe.com slash Lockdown MLB. Go today. There's no safe like SimplySafe. You're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. I want to talk about the, well, first a reminder that we are talking. talking about Julio Rodriguez all episode long as we begin our 2022 player reviews.

But I want to next go to the moment that Julio solidified himself or established himself rather as a superstar in Major League Baseball. That was the home run derby, which we haven't talked about a lot. You know, when we're doing our team awards over the past few episodes, we did a, you know, Best Moment award. And we, we acknowledged the home run derby, but we didn't get too much into that. But I think that was truly the moment. You know, under the lights in L.A. at Dodgers Stadium in Hollywood

in front of tons of celebrities. And we saw the response from celebrities and, you know, other superstars and other leagues like Stefan Curry tweeting at Julio, etc. That performance that Julio had in the home run derby, which he should have won by the way. The formatting of the

homerun derby is stupid. He outperformed one Soto throughout that entire derby. Just because he he lost in a single round to Soto. Shouldn't matter. He should have won the derby. But what he was able to do that night in L.A. was something that only a few players have done.

And we've seen what the homerun derby can do for players stock and how we can, even for players that are not necessarily top 20, top 30-ish, that it can still turn them into household names. And Julio Rodriguez that night became a household name. You saw the same, right? No. Yeah, I think, you know, Julio was always going to end up being a superstar in a face of the league type of player, not just the face of a franchise type of player. But I feel like the derby kind of jumpstarted his like national superstar type of persona.

know because like I said at that point Mariner fans knew how good he was like the diehards of just Major League Baseball in general knew how good Julio was at that point plus wasn't that right after the well obviously that was right after the 14 game

win a streak but wasn't that right after he hit that huge runoff of the Grand Slam off of Jose Leclerc and all that like a couple days after that but yeah yeah yeah just I think that's when the casual fan was like, like, yeah, this isn't just hype. There's, you know, obviously there's talent here.

I can look at the stats and tell how good he is. He's an all-star. Obviously, he, you know, he's an all-star and he's not named Albert Pujols or Miguel Cabrera. So obviously he's a very good baseball player. So, yeah, I think they knew about that. But I think after the home run derby, people knew Julio Rodriguez. Like, yeah, that is a name now that you can say to a casual baseball fan.

and they know who he is. Like, you don't, he's on a first same basis now, right? It's Julio. Like, no one says as Rodriguez.

No one, like even if you're watching a national broadcast and they're, they're, you know, uh, just announcing him. It's,

it's, it's Julio. It's not Julio Rodriguez. It's not Rodriguez. It's Julio. Right. And yeah, I mean,

like I said, it's just, it's different, right, than like, go ask casual baseball fan, like, who Brandon Lowe is,

right? Lowe's a really good player. how many people do you think know who Brandon Lowe is just casual base like they don't watch it every day right 30% 40% maybe I might be generous now go say the word Julio in front of a casual baseball fan there go oh yeah the kid in Seattle yeah Julio's that type of guy that's he's always had that personality um so uh you know and I think you know the personality really started to shine too you saw the smile you saw the joy uh you saw the graciousness after he you know, basically got screwed out of the winning that thing. And he talked about the excitement of doing it again. Like Julio Rodriguez, I think on that night, uh, officially started to,

uh, to, you know, stake his claim as the face of major league baseball, uh, which is kind of good because, you know, right now,

major league baseball doesn't necessarily have one, right? I mean, it should be Mike Trout. Trout doesn't want it. It's probably show, show hey Otani if you know if anybody is is going to lay claim to that it's probably Otani but Julio is right there and you know it's just it's not really a coon yet it's not really you know Tatis certainly not anymore major league baseball doesn't really have these young you know budding

superstars or here's the thing they actually do have them they're just really bad at marketing them the beauty of Julio is that Julio markets himself and he doesn't even have to try right there's nothing fake about Julio's, you know, his, what he puts out there. There's nothing fake about that. It's, it's, it's extreme, he's an extremely markable guy. You know, he's got a great smile. He's, he's young, he's energetic, pretty good looking dude, great swing, hits home run, steel bases, plays, defense, hustles. Literally everything that you, that anybody likes about baseball, Julio Rodriguez has it. So he's incredibly marketable. And, you know, the last time baseball had a, you know, you a guy this marketable, like personality-wise and, um, and all that stuff was probably Griffey

in the 90s. So it's funny how that's worked out, uh, both end up playing centerfield for Seattle. Um, but Julio is, he is that guy. You know, he, he's, he is him, right? And major league baseball should be doing everything in its power to push Julio front and center because he is the type of guy who gets people who don't care about baseball to watch baseball to be. become baseball fans. He just has that personality. I remember back when the Mariners were hosted in the Blue Jays

for that four game series in, what was it, July, and I got invited on to the Blue Jays pregame show on the radio, and they asked me to describe Julio. And the first thing that I said, and this is the thing that I will always say, if anyone asked me to describe Julio Rodriguez, is that

he loves baseball. And if he loves baseball, you should love baseball. You should love baseball. when you're watching him because like he's just he's fun personified he's everything you want baseball to be like he champions all of that you talked about how you know he hustles he plays defense he hits home runs he steals bases all that everything that is fun about baseball and marketable about baseball Julio does it he embodies that and that's the beauty of Julio Rodriguez

is. What to you was your favorite moment for Julio this year? Was it the derby? Was it something else? I think kind of the image that a lot of people have of Julio is going to be the derby. But it's going to sound cliche, but after Seawald and Castillo blow it against Atlanta, you know, they're down one. Julio knows he's coming up.

he was running off the field and he's smiling he's laughing he's like you guys gave me an opportunity to be a hero and i'm going to take advantage of it and it's not the only time Julio's done that. Julio has risen to the occasion multiple times, of course. There was that game, and then the game against Houston, you know, comes to mind where Seattle takes this lead late. And then Nerris is a petulant little child, and he throws at Thai France. And, you know, there's the little dust up.

And the Astros pretend like they're tough, and they're going to go out and they're going to beat the, you know what, out of the Mariners. And then Julio picks up Hector Narris, walks him away from the from the you know the scuffle or whatever then gets into the batters box against him and hits the you know hits the two run home run to put that game out of reach like Julio just seems to have a sense for that moment he was pretty good in the playoffs too you know he didn't hit the big home run or anything like that in the playoffs but really his numbers which

were pretty good those pretty good numbers in the playoffs they're even better if you take out that last game where he went one for seven yeah like he was he was a really good player in the playoffs he seems to have that that you know when the game is is at its like most frustrating he just has this this just cool coolness about him and I think that was pretty much personified in the in the the uh the Atlanta game where he's you know coming off the field laughing almost like he knows what's about like oh I'm about to ruin your day and we even saw that more you know and it didn't really come through in that way where he actually, you know, hit the home, hit the big home run or what have you. But, you know, they, they fall down, uh, or the, Robbie Ray gives up the three

run home run to Jordan Alvarez and Julio's coming off the field, smiling, whatever, like, doesn't face them, right? They're down too, oh. He's going out and chatting with, uh, Astros players and Dusty Baker before, you know, the day before the game in Seattle. Like, that, that's, you know, I don't mean to be a 12 here. But you know how Russell Wilson always talks about how, you know, you got to have amnesia. Yeah, exactly. But you know, you got to have amnesia.

You know, you got to just move on, you know, take it one play at the time. Julio actually does that and doesn't need to tell you that he's doing that. That's who Julio Rodriguez is. Julio actually lives in the gym, but he doesn't feel the need to post his workouts on Instagram. Right. And he still will a little bit. Right, but it's not like, look at me. It's not like the classic way, oh, look how hard I'm working over here, everybody.

Like, oh, I went and visited kids at a children's hospital. I better bring my camera crew like a normal person does. I do that not for the publicity, no, because I really want to do it, right? Julio's not that guy. Julio does these things and he doesn't need recognition for them. He just puts in the work. Then that's part of who Julio is. you know and he's already been rewarded and hopefully it's it's you know it's the lifetime contract most of us

have said it essentially is um it did be devastating at this point to see Julio uh you know play another game or play a game in his career for a team not the Seattle Mariners that's that's how quickly he's kind of endeared himself to Mariners um and yeah you know it's it's funny they they do the they do the playoff intro and all that stuff at the game. Loudest cheer without question is for Julio. Like people in Seattle, they love Julio. And, you know, he's ours, but also Major League Baseball is going to make us share him with other people. But never forget that he is ours.

Like, he is a Seattle Mariner. And it's just cool because, again, the Maris haven't had a player like that. Like, if you want to be generous and say each year old was that, type of guy like okay fine but it's just different you know who Julio you know didn't play in Japan he didn't have this huge like following coming from him or coming with him from across the seas or anything like that he was just a 21 year old kid who just popped up and everybody knew about the talent and then he just it's like he rolled out of bed and was it was an all-star from day one like it's just insane talent um for Julio and and you know you get to see him play

for your favorite team but yeah I do think you know obviously you know the bats speed and the arm and the power and the speed and the side like all the things you can physically see are really important and and that's what makes him a great player uh but it's it's all the stuff that we don't see and we don't know that much about because Julio just does it he doesn't do it because you know it'll help him like his brand he doesn't care about that Julio does them because he wants to be good at baseball he wants to be the best he can possibly be and that's the kind of guy that you build around and that's the guy that you point to and say that's what a Seattle Mariner is.

And when you look at him, for me at least, I look at him and I go, that guy's bringing a championship here. Yeah. Yeah. I just, I don't mean, Julio is,

is different because, you know, it's the, like, he's too good to be true, but he is. Like, no,

that, that's, that's not an act, right? That's not, that is who Julio, is um and there's just you can't find anybody to say a bad word about him he's never had a bad interaction with anybody it seems like you know he'll he looks over his shoulder at tie and

tie's convinced that they're in love like it's we had a moment we we had high contact man and yet you and yet you left say you let safety cones keep you from getting down on that field uh after the the comeback win so uh i i i had the duty of of recording a show for Oh, that's the excuse. Yes. Yes, that's why I took four hours to get home. Interesting. That was the night before.

That was the night before, I was responsible on the game two, which is really weird. The way that I celebrated those two games, it should have been flipped. It should have been flipped the celebrations for those games. You think, but. Nevertheless. All right. So I want to ask you, I mean, the answer to this could be just as simple as like, you know, the fact that he was really, really good right out of the gate.

But what surprised you from Julio's season this year? If anything. Probably how fast he was to make adjustments. You know, he, but he, it was weird because, you know, we go back to the April, right? And he was getting rung up on, I don't even want to call them borderline pitches because they weren't near the strike zone. And he was getting rung up on them, never chased. he would not chase those pitches.

And, you know, I think he had like 15 bad calls go against them. And he never started to chase those pitches off the plate as a result. Like, it would have been so easy for him. Like, I got to hit. I got to get hits. So if I got to go, you know, a couple inches outside of what I can do and just try and hit that, then I'm going to. Julio didn't. He never, he never did that.

He never changed. But when pitchers started to, like, throw a ton of sliders outside, you know, Julio struggled for a little bit on that, and then he made the adjustment. Then he started to drive the ball to right field, and then pitchers would make their adjustment. Julio would struggle for a couple days, and then he would make his adjustment.

So it just the fact that he never had a prolonged, a prolonged issue. Now, I mean, there are still things he can clean up. He still does struggle with some spin off the outside corner. That's certainly something he can clean up. But early on, he was getting just killed by these bad calls. he would not expand his zone, never even considered it. And then once that problem kind of started to solve itself, you know, new problems popped up,

the slider away. And then Julio, oh, well, no problem. I'll just flip that into right field, you know, half a dozen times in a week. And eventually you'll have to change the way you pitch me. And then, okay, let's go, you know, hard up in the zone. And Julio sent a couple of those things, 450 feet out. And they're like, okay, now we have to change it. And every time, you know, major league baseball would come up with a,

a counter punch, Julio would end up, you know, eventually countering that counter punch. It's so impressive from a 21 year old that we didn't see like, we didn't see one way that like pitchers could consistently pitch

Julio that would always get him out. Julio would make an adjustment. And like I said, it's, there are still some things to work on. Like, he still has to work on that spin on the outside. That's still your best shot to get Julio out.

But if you miss by two inches on the plate, he's going to hit it very hard and you're going to be in big trouble. So there's still things he can work on, but just the overall ability to just, you know, roll with the punches early and then punch back, counter punch, and then wait for the counter and counterback. Like, he's a very mature hitter at the plate. I think that's what surprised me the most. Yeah, the strikeouts could go down a little bit, but the game plan,

very few ways of that bats from Julio in his rookie year. Some. but not a lot. Yeah. And going off of the talk about the adjustments, I'm pretty excited to see his next matchup against Lance McCuller's Jr. I don't think that McCullors is going to have as much success

as he did in game three of the year. The next time those two meet. Those are some rough outbats, but yeah, it's, uh, Julio if he saw him again. Like if it was a seven game series and Julio saw him in game seven or whatever. I'm pretty sure that the matchup would have gone a little different. Yeah.

And now with an off season's worth of work, I think Julio is going to be a more refined hitter in 2020. We'll get into that in just a moment. But for me, the biggest surprise for me with Julio was both the defense and the speed and how he was able to impact the game on the base pass because he was never a huge base dealer in the minor league. I think the most stolen bases he had down on the minors was 16. So for him to come up and You know legitimately threatened to be a 30 30 guy as a 21-year-old rookie I don't think anyone could have expected that and on top of that to be You know not just a serviceable center fielder but an actual legitimate center field defender

Who was you know plus seven and outs above average this year You know you and I thought He was a corner outfield guy and that you know eventually you know know he would dh or what have you kind of have a similar career path as uh Miguel Cabrera um in terms of you know eventually ended up at dh or first base or whatever and that's likely what what ends up happening for him down the road but you and i never thought that he was going to be this that he was actually going to be a legitimate center field option um and that didn't really pop into our minds until jerry depoto started talking about it in the off season and even when he started talking about

it i remember you and i on the show being like oh i don't know about that That seems a little weird and that seems like you're sacrificing defense there. That seems like you're getting a little too cute with it with, with Julio and Sitterfield. Turns out Jerry DePoto and crew were right. Right. And also, you know, I think the most or the highest grade that a lot of outlets put on Julio's speed was about 60, 55, 60.

I even saw some 50s at one point. But then Jerry DePoto came out in spring training and was like, Julio's like a legit 70, 75 grade runner. And we're like, no way. But then, you know, season starts and he's swiping all these bags. He's playing a good center field. And it's like, okay. Yeah, they were right.

Yeah, there's a little Michael Jordan to Julio. Like, yeah, I saw those reports. And I took that personally. And Julio did. He saw the reports. I remember, you know, pretty early on, I think he was 17, 18, at the time. Pipeline had a 50 grade on his,

on his speed. And Julio took that really personally. And he went out and, like, he stole, like, 12 bases in, like, 35 games or something crazy like that. And he went to work on the speed. And then, you know, like the, oh, no, he'll be a pretty good defender in right field, but you can't play him out the middle. He's too big.

He doesn't have that quickness. And he was just like, oh, good. Something else I can prove people wrong on. And he went out and he did it. And Julio's defense was a big plus. And I think we could start to see the writing on the wall after the lockout. They really didn't have any interest in bringing in a centerfielder. And because of their lack of really bringing in any outfielder, aside from Jesse Winker, who not really an outfielder, more of a DH.

But I think at that point when they were like, yeah, this is this squad we're going to roll with. I think you and I were both in agreement, like, okay, they're very serious about Julio, not only making the opening day roster, but being the centerfielder because at that point, the writing's on the wall. And, you know, he, uh, he was really good. He was, like I said, I don't oversell his defense. He wasn't a healthy Byron Buckson or anything like that, but he was, he was very good. He was never an issue defensively in centerfield. And even made some, you know, some huge plays, like the, uh, the sliding catch to, uh, rob the double of, I think it was Altuvae who hit that one. And, uh, in the, was it 16th ending, 17th inning?

the last game of the year. And that's just speed and agility and first step quickness. That's, just tell Julio he can't do something. I dare you. Well, and that's kind of got to give you some confidence that he might be able to add even more things to his game because he's still real young.

He's going to be 22 next year. Like he's really, really young. A lot of guys that are 22 years older. Still playing college baller. They're really just beginning their minor league career. Like, dude's already performing at a,

really, really, really high level at an age that people just don't. Normal human beings, normal baseball players, just don't. So last question for you. Sorry, real fast. Okay. One more thing on the whole like, tell Julio he can't do something. The guy taught himself English as a 15-year-old. That's awesome.

He taught him. Why did he teach himself English? Because he wanted to be able to do interviews. in English when he was playing in the big leagues. That was his thought process as a 15 year old kid was like, oh, obviously I'm going to be in the big leagues. I want to be able to do these interviews in the English too.

So he went out and he bought tapes, like literal tapes on how to speak English. And he taught himself how to do it. Yep. And he speaks great English, Kevin Mather. Yes. Great English. Yeah.

Better than anything Kevin Mather's ever done in his life. So, yeah, it's just like, you know, it's a cliche and I don't like using it, but kids just built different. Like that's not a common thing that people do. Yeah. All right. Last question. Very simple question. Did Julio do enough this year to set himself up for an MVP run next year?

Yep. Mm-hmm. Especially if the Mariners make a deep playoff run. the Mariners challenge for the division next year for any serious length of time. Like this year, they never really challenged for it. But if they're, you know,

neck and neck with the Astros next year and Julio's having a good year, yep, you'll definitely get some votes. And then I'd be, I'd be shocked if Julio didn't win at least one in his career. He's just that type of guy. And honestly, you could tell me he's going to win five or six.

And I'd be like, okay. maybe I could see it so yeah I think he starts the year on the watch list not that they have those but yeah yeah I think when bet online sends us their odds for a LmvP he's going to be pretty high on that list all right well that's going to do it for our show thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown mariners podcast thank you to Julio Rodriguez for being awesome at baseball for colby patnode I'm titan gazales be sure to give us a follow on twitter at underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez. It's D-A-N-E, G-N-Z-L-Z, and Colby at CPAT-11. That's C-P-A-T-1-1. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. And thank you again for making us your first listen.

Now, for your next listen, check out the Lockdown Sports Today podcast, featuring the biggest stories of the day, plus instant reactions, big game recaps, and the take of the day. It's available on the Odyssey app, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcast just like us. And with that, have yourself a beautiful baseball day. We'll see you tomorrow. Peace. Thank you.