First-ever 25–25 debut season.
Added speed to play center field.
Cold-turkey quit video games.
Emphasizes feel over data to hit.
Olympic bronze medalist.
Fastest sprint speed among center fielders.
Taught himself English as a boy.
Hit sign, won beer.
Eighty-one bombs in Home Run Derby.
Gave up favorite fast food.
At 21, youngest first-year AL All-Star outfielder since Joe DiMaggio.
Makes book recommendations.
Everyone knows him as the J-Rod Show.
That’s the fast version of the Julio Rodríguez story. It is apropos to the Mariners’ center fielder and the way baseball will be played this year. Julio is fast. Fast runner. Fast talker. Fast learner. Fast tracked.
Fast like baseball in 2023. In the time it took you to read the fast version of Rodríguez’s story, two pitches could be thrown in a major league game—not one, the way it was for years.
