Mariners Prospects: Julio Rodriguez is the next Frank Robinson

The Seattle Mariners have a special farm system. There is a trio of pitchers that any club would be happy to have coming up, a powerful young shortstop, and a pair of incredible outfielders. We already know who to compare Jarred Kelenic to, but what about the younger of the pair? Who can we compare Julio Rodriguez to?

I don’t just want to compare him to anyone, though. Taking a look at a single player wouldn’t give a fair indication to fans of what to expect from Julio’s career. To help alleviate that, I’m going to take a look at three different levels of players. In order to get a better look at what to expect, we can take a look at comparisons for his floor, a median career, and his ceiling.

Could Julio become the greatest power hitter of all time? Sure, it’s a possibility for anyone with special power paired with coming up at a young age. He would have to hit nearly 40 home runs a year for 20 seasons though. It just isn’t a realistic scenario.

What I did instead, was to take a look at the great power hitters from history. Someone with passable defense and the potential for a bit of speed. Julio has that potential, although it is yet to be determined how his body fills out. He could be a larger guy and fall into that 45-50 range for speed.

However, they need to be able to hit the snot out of the ball. Anyone we compare Julio to needs to have the potential for a bunch of home runs, and the ability to possibly even lead the league in dingers. We will get to his ceiling by the end, but for now, let’s take a look at the realistic floor for Julio Rodriguez.