Mariners superstar boldly predicted for upset win in AL MVP race

This is an important season for a lot of Seattle Mariners individuals, as the team looks to return to the playoffs after just missing out on the playoffs in each of the last two seasons. There are many questions that must be answered.

For example, can Luis Castillo return to being a staff ace? Will J.P. Crawford bounce back after a career-worst year? And how good will Matt Brash be after missing all of last season through injury?

Another player with plenty to prove is Julio Rodríguez, who had the least productive offensive season of his three years in the Majors. Instead of improving, he has regressed after bursting onto the scene in 2022 and being named AL Rookie of the Year.

This is not how it was meant to go with a generational talent who set himself up to be a superstar in Seattle, a la Ken Griffey Jr and Ichiro Suzuki. However, there is still plenty of hope after how Rodríguez finished last season once Dan Wilson took over as manager, with one writer in particular predicting a historic season for the two-time Silver Slugger Award winner.

Julio Rodríguez predicted to do something very special in 2025

On Wednesday, Will Leitch of MLB.com made bold predictions for each division entering the 2025 regular season, and the one for the AL West is especially intriguing if you are a Mariners fan: Leitch is predicting that Rodríguez will win the AL MVP Award.

Leitch notes, as we have, that the 24-year-old's offensive productivity has gone in the wrong direction, highlighted by a 147 OPS+ in 2022 declining to 130 in 2023 and 116 last year. While he says these are still above average numbers, it is simply not good enough for a player with as much potential as the Mariners youngster.

Reference is also made to how Rodríguez does show glimpses and periods of dominance, to highlight just how much ability he truly has. As we wrote about recently, the prime example of this came in August 2023, when he had a sensational .429/.474/.724 slash line and 1.197 OPS, plus seven home runs and 30 RBI in helping the Mariners go 21-6 for the month.

Time for Julio Rodríguez to put it altogether with the Mariners

Leitch's understandable belief is that, one of these years, the two-time All-Star will put together a whole season of offensive periods of dominance. And he predicts that 2025 will be that season. The prediction really is cause for both excitement and doubt, just based on the contrasting combination of Rodríguez's five-tool talent but having yet to put it all together on a consistent basis.

From our perspective, we genuinely believe Rodríguez is going to rebound from his poorest season yet in the Majors. One of the big keys will be continued mentoring from Hall of Famer Edgar Martínez — albeit likely not as often as the back end of last season — along with Wilson's changes to the offensive philosophy that fell short under previous manager Scott Servais.

Whether this is all enough to help Rodríguez become AL MVP is something we are dubious about, not that we will have even a remote problem with being proven wrong. However, if nothing else, it is undeniable that he does at least have the talent to achieve such a special accolade in 2025.

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