Julio Rodríguez Reaches .678 OPS After 140 Plate Appearances

Julio Rodríguez is still below his usual standard, but the signs around his bat have changed. After 140 plate appearances, the Seattle Mariners outfielder has a.678 OPS, two home runs and a.349 slugging percentage.

That line sits against a career pattern that has been hard to miss. Over his five major league seasons, Rodríguez has posted a.734 OPS in the first half and a.902 OPS in the second half, and this season his walk rate has climbed to 8.9 percent from a career 6.6 percent.

Rodríguez’s Contact Turns Sharper

Before April 15, he was missing often and failing to make contact in the zone. Since then, his zone contact rate has risen to 94.3 percent, and his launch angles have improved while he has pulled the ball in the air more often.

Those changes came after a slow opening stretch that included more than 60 plate appearances before his first extra-base hit. The at-bat quality has moved in the right direction, even if the overall production has not caught up yet.

Seattle Tracks The Trend

The larger picture is straightforward for Seattle: Rodríguez has already shown he can finish far stronger than he starts, and this season is again following that shape. Since his debut in 2022, he has carried the reputation of being one of the game’s best five-tool players and one of its slowest starters.

Pitchers have kept the ball out of the zone as well, with just 44.8 percent of pitches against him this season coming in the strike zone. For the Mariners, the practical takeaway is that his recent contact gains are the part worth watching now, because the power totals usually follow when he starts squaring the ball more often.