April 4, 2022

The Seattle Mariners announced that Julio Rodriguez will start the season with the Major League team, immediately rewarding all fantasy managers who drafted him this preseason. There's no doubting Rodriguez's potential as he topped the Mariners prospect rankings and found himself as a top-5 overall prospect in most rankings. That's unsurprising given what he's achieved in his Minor League career to date. Rodriguez played 217 games between Rookie and Double-A levels, with a .331/.412/.543 line, 30 homers and 32 stolen bases. In 46 Double-A games last season, Rodriguez had seven homers, 16 steals and put up a .362/.461/.546 line. On the 20-80 grading scale (with 50 being MLB average), MLB Pipeline has Rodriguez rated as 70 for hitting, 65 for power and 55 for running. Those tools immediately suggest a 20/20 season is achievable and his projections support that. Early ATC projections had Rodriguez hitting 13 homers with nine steals in 98 games. With the news that Rodriguez will start the season in the Majors, he should be able to reach ~140 games so 20 homers and 15 homers are a reasonable expectation, to go with a batting average in the .270 - .280 range. If he can carry his Spring form into the regular season, Rodriguez could even outperform those projections. In 13 games (33 at-bats) has three homers, three stolen bases and a .424/.486/.818 slash line. There's always caution to be had with rookies, especially 21-year-olds without a single game at the Triple-A level, but few have the tools Rodriguez possesses and he could finish up as a top-20 outfielder. He looks certain to outperform his ADP of ~254.--Jamie Steed