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Julio Rodriguez named one of the best players in MLB to build a team around

The Mariners star earned some high praise from Bleacher Report, as Julio Rodriguez was selected as one of the best players in the game to build a team around

By Tanner Vogt |
Oakland Athletics v Seattle Mariners
Oakland Athletics v Seattle Mariners / Alika Jenner/GettyImages

There is no doubt that the Mariners have a bonafide superstar in their organization. Julio Rodriguez presents this team's first offensive superstar since the prime Ichiro days. Julio brings the energy with his no-fly zone that he flashes every time he makes an incredible catch, the playmaking ability, and the marketability to a team that has desperately lacked it for quite some time.

Bleacher Report published an article about the faces of franchises in baseball and ranked them one through 50. Cal Raleigh got an honorable mention nod, while two underrated starting pitchers, Bryce Miller and Logan Gilbert, checked in at 48 and 49 respectively. They obviously liked the Mariners' pitching staff, as George Kirby came in at 28 (8th overall SP) and Luis Castillo came in at 23 (6th overall SP).

We all knew Julio would be on this list, but how far up the list would he be? Does his early season struggle cast some doubt into the consistency that he will provide? It shouldn't and Bleacher Report doesn't seem to think so, as Julio was ranked number seven overall! He comes in ahead of guys like Gunnar Henderson, Corey Seager, Elly De La Cruz, and Kyle Tucker.

The top six in front of Julio are listed below.

  1. DH/RHP Shohei Ohtani
  2. SS Mookie Betts
  3. OF Ronald Acuna Jr.
  4. OF Juan Soto
  5. SS Bobby Witt Jr.
  6. C Adley Rutschman

This is really good company for Julio and seems like an accurate spot for him to be placed. Julio is one of the few players in baseball that has true "5-tool talent" as he is a legit 30-30 threat every single year, with a high average, and one of the best defenders in all of baseball.

He has the potential to go down as one of the best baseball players to ever play the game and could be on his way to joining the Seattle Mariners "Mount Rushmore" of best players in franchise history. The Mariners have the superstar locked up for a long time and, hopefully, they can secure and build the team around him to get him to play regular postseason baseball, unlike another Mariners legend who never got to see the postseason.

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