3 Reasons Mariners' Julio Rodriguez will win MVP in 2024... and 2 reasons he won't

Reason #3 he will win: He's only getting better

This is the most important point of the entire article, I believe. Julio Rodriguez is only 23 years old. There are people his age coming out of college who still don't know what they are going to do with their lives, and meanwhile, Julio Rodriguez is sitting there as one of the best baseball players on the planet already.

A common thought is that baseball players don't reach their prime until their age 26-29 seasons. Julio is 3 seasons away from entering that first prime year. He's three years behind Acuna in age. Julio is only getting more comfortable at the plate. He's getting better at recognizing pitches. He's starting to understand the game more, and being able to do it at an early age due to the experience he gained as a rookie (ROY, no less) at age 21.

It's fair to argue that Julio is a generational talent, and that he is already at his peak. That he was able to arrive there early due to his talent. However, you could adjust that to say he is a generational talent who is only going to get better as he reaches his prime years. Does Julio become a consistent .300 hitter? Does he start flirting with 40/40 every year? As the speed declines, does the power increase? Are we going to see a wild SB season like Acuna just had?

They are all reasonable and realistic questions, and ones that Julio could achieve. He was, to be blunt/negative about it "inconsistent and bad for stretches of 2023" if you want to phrase it that way. What happens if his "bad" months are .240/.300/.440, and he only has one or two of those months? He had a .394/.456/.747 month in 2022 and a .429/.474/.724 month in 2023. Limited bad months and you throw one of those in?

Yeah, Julio Rodriguez can definitely win the MVP if he does that. 2024 might just be the year that he not only wins the MVP, but that he more importantly wins his first MVP... of many.