Julio Rodriguez earns a well deserved All Star Berth for Mariners

It’s been a great weekend for the Mariners and their fans. They ended up with a four-game sweep over the Toronto Blue Jays, and sit at 45-42, tied with those Blue Jays for the final wild card spot. That’s not what I am here to write about though. I want to talk about Julio Rodriguez, and how the Rookie phenom earned a well deserved berth to the All-Star game.

There really isn’t an argument against it. Julio Rodriguez has been playing incredible all year, not just as one of the best rookies in baseball, but as one of the best players in baseball.

Julio Rodriguez, at 21, has earned an All-Star berth to this years game

Being up in Northwest Washington, some fans may not be as familiar with Julio as they should be. I will say that ESPN and MLB Network (two of the big dawgs in getting people to know baseball players) have actually done a pretty good job at promoting him.

Also, the Mariners social media staff has done a pretty good job at making sure we see everything that Julio does. It helps that Julio himself is on social media, so you’ll see a bunch of activity from him on Twitter. Seeing someone who could potentially be the next face, not of the Mariners, but of all of baseball be promoted so well is great for the game.

One more step has been taken for that as well with Julio earning a nod to this years All-Star game. It’s great and well-deserved. Also, there is a part of me that is even happier that it happened this year. With the game in Seattle next year, you wouldn’t want anything being tarnished with him going their next year just as an excuse to get one of the games young stars in the game. With how he has been playing, there is no doubt that it is 100% deserved.

Take a look at his stats. I’m going to throw three seperate group of stats out there. The first one will list his numbers for the season, and the second will list his numbers excluding the first 12 games. Lastly, I’ll list some of his rankings as how they compare to the rest of the league, just to show where he stands in comparison.

• 86 Games, .274/.334/.477, 50 R, 44 RBI, 17 2B, 15 HR, 21 SB
• 74 Games, .296/.355/.531, 46 R, 42 RBI, 16 2B, 15 HR, 17 SB
• 3.5 WAR (14th), 21 SB (T-2nd), 50 R (T-16th)

It’s not all good for the Mariners around the All-Star game, though. Ty France was straight up robbed, and not having one of the best hitters in baseball in the game is a travesty. But, when you are going up against the big markets, those type of mockery’s are going to happen.

For now, all the praise and adoration should go to Julio Rodriguez. He’s one of the best players in baseball, and is well deserving of an All-Star selection. With the way he is playing this year, it looks like it is going to be the first of many for the future of the Seattle Mariners.