Julio Rodriguez hasn't played yet in Spring Training for the Mariners, but his debut is finally scheduled
We haven't seen Julio Rodriguez play yet in Spring Training, but the Mariners superstar finally has a debut date for his first game of the preseason
It's been a rough preseason for the Mariners so far. No, I'm not talking about the Spring Training record, cause that holds little to no weight on a team's success. What I'm talking about is the injury front. Luis Urias hasn't played yet, and it doesn't sound good for him (more on this later). Matt Brash is the big name, and he might just be done for the year. There is also another big name, the biggest name, that we haven't seen yet. Where is Julio Rodriguez?
Julio Rodriguez is set to make his 2024 ST debut Saturday the 2nd
Julio is yet to make his 2024 ST debut for the Mariners, as he has been dealing with a sore/inflamed left hand. It sounds like this stemmed from Julio putting in too much work in the batting cage, taking too many full swings as he worked on refining his approach and having a better feel at the plate. Scott Servais actually talked about this during the media session on Wednesday, although this was pulled from Divish's recap of the session.
“Julio is good... He hit in the cage yesterday and felt good. He’ll do more today, picking up the velocity with the hitting a little bit. He may get out on the field if it feels good and he wants to work in a group there. If not, he’ll do that tomorrow. He’s on pace to where he’ll probably play in the game on Saturday. That’s what I’m hoping for.”
I can't imagine how sad Mariners fans would be if there was a bigger issue with Julio, and that it wasn't just a puffy hand (essentially what it sounded like it was). Fortunately for Mariners fans, Julio is going to make his debut Saturday March 2nd against the division (rival seems like the wrong word) Oakland Athletics.
While fans have been a bit sad at not seeing Brash or Urias or even Santos, Julio is now scheduled to be back. Luckily, it sounds like we should be seeing Santos soon as well, as he was firing off throws in practice with enough velo that the trainer said that was the last time that he was going to play catch with him, and that he would need a bullpen catcher out there next time since it hurt his hand.
Don't fret Mariners fans, Julio's return is right around the corner. We just have to wait to the weekend to see it.