Seattle Mariners prospect Julio Rodriguez leads qualifiers in hits

Seattle Mariners prospect Julio Rodriguez is representing the Dominican Republic in the Baseball Americas Qualifier which determines who will be a part of the summer Olympic Games. Julio Rodriguez has some well-known teammates like Jose Bautista, Emilio Bonifacio, and Melky Cabrera, but the young 20-year-old is stealing the show.

It probably shouldn’t be too surprising that Julio is playing well but I’m not sure if people expected him to play this well. Let’s dive into it.

Seattle Mariners prospect Julio Rodriguez leads the Baseball Americas Qualifier in hits and runs

For the Americas Qualifier, the USA, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Canada are competing against one another. The US currently leads the group with two wins and the DR are not far behind sitting with a 2-1 record.

Amongst all of these players vying for an appearance in the Olympic Games, the shining Seattle Mariners prospect is the leader in hits and runs. In 24 at-bats, JROD has 11 hits, two of which were for home runs.

Rodriguez has scored seven times, driven in seven runs, and owns a  .458/.480/.708 slash line. Another promising thing to note is that Rodriguez has only struck out five times in his 24 at-bats.

I think it is quite evident that the level of play at the Baseball Americas Qualifier isn’t extremely high, but they are a talented group of baseball players representing their respective countries. So, Julio’s success shouldn’t be viewed as a reason to bring him up to the big leagues as soon as he is done in Florida, but it also shouldn’t be overlooked.

Julio Rodriguez isn’t the only player representing the Seattle Mariners on the Dominican Republic Team

Julio isn’t the only player representing the Seattle Mariners on the DR team. Luis Liberato, an outfielder in the Mariners organization is also playing for the Dominican Republic and he’s been playing great as well.

Liberato owns a .444/.545/.944 slash line and has hit three home runs, which is the second-most on the team. Liberato was playing in Tacoma before flying to Florida and was hitting .244 with a .763 OPS.