SEATTLE — It's all out there for Julio Rodriguez.
He's about to take full ownership of the city of Seattle, which has a sports-idol vacancy with the trade of Russell Wilson and the pending retirement of Sue Bird. He is the right person at the right time. You can already see the adoration growing, one smile, one home run and one stolen base at a time.
The kid — and at 21, he's still a kid, even if his talents are full-grown — has the sort of natural charisma that hasn't been seen in these parts since, dare I say it, The Kid. Ken Griffey Jr., still the gold standard for Seattle sports superstars. Julio, like Griffey, is making baseball cool again. Julio, like Griffey, has the "it" factor that can't be defined, and can't be faked. You just know it when you see it. And Rodriguez oozes "it."
