Julio Rodríguez is still searching at the exact moment the Mariners need him most

For as long as Julio Rodríguez has been in the big leagues, he has had a reputation for taking some time to warm up at the plate. Over the course of his career, his first-half OPS of .739 is respectable but a clear step down from his second-half OPS of .870. He typically goes on a hot streak at the end of July or at the start of August, and it has allowed him to consistently be one of the best center-fielders in baseball.

This year has been different and not necessarily in a good way. After posting an .899 OPS in May, some thought that he'd finally break out into the MVP candidate Seattle has been waiting for but he has failed to eclipse an OPS of .700 in any month since. In fact, he's not just failing to gain momentum this summer, he's losing steam.

Julio Rodríguez's disappointing production is another disappointment faced by the Mariners' lineup

Cal Raleigh has received much of the blowback for his severe offensive regression from last year, but Julio isn't totally innocent either. His 108 OPS+ in 2026 is the lowest single-season mark of his five-year big league career. His most recent numbers have been an improvement, but still largely disappointing. His .729 OPS so far this August is a far cry from his career average OPS of .882 in the month.

For a player as well-rounded as Julio, the question of "What's wrong?" rarely has a straightforward answer. His bat speed is still elite and his usual bad habits of chasing and whiffing are still around, but not significantly more than in years past. In fact, his 21.9% strikeout rate this year is actually an improvement on his career average of 23.8%. He's even pulling the ball in the air 18.8% of the time, a career best.

One clear area of concern is his swing decisions. Aside from being more passive than last year, he's swinging at fewer pitches in the zone and more pitches outside of the zone, a recipe for disaster. He's not whiffing more than usual, but this has made it difficult for him to square up pitches and has undoubtedly had a negative impact on his average exit velocity.

This isn't to say that the juice is totally gone. Julio has shown fans glimpses of the summer slugger, including hitting a 109 mph home run against Zack Wheeler in the first game of the Phillies series on Monday.

The broader concern is that with the Mariners' postseason chances holding on by a thread, the team will need both Julio at full strength if they want a chance at playing baseball in October. He's the face of the franchise for a reason and it's because on paper, he's still the team's best player, even if the results on the field don't always support that claim.

It's encouraging to see him bounce back after a grave misplay in what was already a miserable beatdown at the hands of the Brewers, but it may all be in vain unless he manages to get hot and stay scorching for the rest of the year.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow