MINNEAPOLIS — When he boarded the Mariners team plane in Phoenix on Wednesday, heading off to start the season in Minnesota, it became real to Julio Rodriguez.
"That's when I realized, 'OK, I'm here now,'" he said Thursday, sitting in the visiting clubhouse at Target Field along with the entire Mariners team that turned out for an optional workout.
Truth is, it's been hard to not know, in intimate detail, everything about Rodriguez's meteoric rise to Seattle's opening-day roster and his expected spot in center field when the Mariners face the Twins on Friday.
