ATLANTA — It was this very venue that Julio Rodríguez would’ve played in his third All-Star Game, before opting to sit out due to what he described at the time as a much-needed mental and physical reset for the second half.
And in the seven weeks since, the Mariners’ center fielder has put more backing to why he was selected to the Midsummer Classic despite a somewhat pedestrian first half at the plate — with two massive homers and an impressive catch as part of a three-hit night in a 10-2 win on Saturday at Truist Park
“That was probably the biggest, most important decision that I had to make,” Rodríguez said. “Obviously, I remember putting a post out that I really wanted to be here. But I feel I needed a reset. I needed the time for myself to be able to play my best, because that’s the most important thing — to play my best for the team. And I feel like that was huge for me to be able to do it.”
Rodríguez sparked Seattle’s scoring with a 422-foot, pull-side shot into the second deck in the first inning off Hurston Waldrep. Then he broke a tense 2-2 tie in the seventh by hammering a 441-foot blast into the waterfall beyond straightaway center field.
And the second is what really opened things up for the scuffling Mariners, who wound up hitting three more homers and handily snapped a four-game losing streak on this three-city road trip, which they began 1-6.
“When somebody does something big for the team, I feel like you can always feel that positivity for the team,” Rodríguez said. “And it was really cool. It was really cool to see everybody kind of following up.”
Cal Raleigh put the finishing touches on the night, with a 418-foot solo shot in the ninth inning that reached the Chop House beyond right field for his 52nd of the season. It was also his 42nd as a catcher, tying him with Atlanta’s Javy Lopez in 2003 for the most at the position while playing the position in history.
For Rodríguez, meanwhile, the homers were his 29th and 30th of the season, which have him two shy of tying a career high and six stolen bases shy of achieving the coveted 30/30 season, which he also accomplished in 2023. He became just the ninth player in Mariners history with multiple 30-homer seasons, and he joined Raleigh as the only players in franchise history to clear that mark multiple times within their first four seasons.
By the time that the dust settles on 2025 — which more than anything, Rodríguez hopes, includes a postseason berth — his Baseball Reference page will highlight another banner year. And that wasn’t exactly shaping up to be the case.
When he was named an All-Star reserve on July 6, he had 11 homers through 89 games and a .695 OPS that were among the lowest of those selected. But since then, he’s been the Mariners’ most productive player — yes, that includes Raleigh — and one of the best in baseball.
In 52 games since, Rodríguez has crushed 19 homers (third most in MLB) with 43 RBIs (tied for third), 40 runs scored (tied for fifth) with a .960 OPS (seventh). He entered Friday worth 2.6 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs (sixth) and 158 wRC+ (10th, where league average is 100). All of those numbers lead the Mariners.
“Honestly, I happened to see that it was here, and I talked a little bit,” Rodríguez said of the All-Star Game. “But I don’t regret it at all. I don’t regret it at all because I feel like it put me in a much better headspace and in a better spot to be able to be myself, and to be able to play my best.”
The center fielder also shined on defense, making an impressive running catch into the left-center gap to rob his 2022 Rookie of the Year counterpart, Michael Harris II, of extra bases and help Bryce Miller with the third out of the third inning.
Rodríguez is tied for seventh among MLB center fielders with eight outs above average, but Harris is just behind at 10th, with seven OAA. Highlight-reels plays are that much sweeter, Rodríguez says, when they’re made against other elite defenders.
“I know he knows the feeling when you cut somebody’s ball when they hit it in the gap,” Rodríguez said. “So that’s why I just said, ‘No, I did it to you too.’”
