Mariners fans shouldn't take the bait on alarming Julio Rodríguez statistic

Sometimes it really gets rammed home how unfair life can be when you look at a guy like Julio Rodriguez, who truly has it all — five-tool talent, a charismatic personality and good looks. However, it turns out that even generational budding superstars like the 25-year-old are still prone to enduring challenging periods, just like us mere mortals.

Rodríguez is traditionally a slow starter, and seems to be at it yet again to begin the 2026 campaign. Through eight games he's hitting just 3-for-30 at the plate, resulting in some ugly looking stats including a -0.1 bWAR and 3 OPS+.

A seemingly sluggish Julio Rodríguez so far in 2026, but is there anything to it?

It seems almost redundant to point at the obvious that it's still way too early to be making any proclamations of impending doom as (for example) Rodríguez could have a four-hit game on Saturday night in Anaheim and see his .100 batting average double. And yet that's not going to stop some people fearing the worst, such is the life of the average Mariners fan after nearly five decades of mostly heartbreak.

As such, we weren't too surprised by a social media post from a Mariners fan earlier this week, which pointed out another area where Rodríguez has apparently struggled thus far in 2026. The post noted that his sprint speed is way down at 26.0 feet per second and ranking in just the 35th percentile.

Just to stress, we're simply pointing this out as opposed to outright critcizing the person, but it does serve as another example of being way too alarmed for such an early point in a season which is effectively just one week old. And that's taking into account the reality that Mariners fans have been scarred repeatedly over the years, leading to a nervous disposition sometimes verging on the irrational.

We promise it's going to be okay Mariners fans (promise not legally binding)

In an attempt to talk folks off the cliff ledge, keep in mind the aforementioned reference to Rodríguez only having three hits so far in 2026 (along with five walks). He just hasn't gotten many chances to show off his wheels yet, with him barely being on base and nothing in the gaps to leg out.

This is just a case of the three-time All-Star just needing some time to warm up and literally get going, and yet we realize this still won't enough to reassure certain people. So let's also consider last season when he was in a similar position in early April, with his 27.4 feet per second clocked as the second-slowest speed among qualified center fielders according to Statcast.

This led to some panic as well as speculation that Rodríguez might be dealing with an undisclosed injury, but by season's end he had jumped all the way up to 29.2 feet per second with his sprint speed, to rank in the 93rd percentile. The point is, there's nothing to indicate it will be any different this year for the best center fielder in the game, so yeah, let's not do this again.