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Julio Rodríguez
Julio Yamel Rodríguez (born December 29, 2000), nicknamed "J-Rod", is a Dominican professional baseball center fielder for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He signed with the Mariners as an international free agent in 2017. In his rookie season in 2022, he was named an All-Star along with winning the Silver Slugger Award and American League Rookie of the Year Award. Rodríguez has been selected to three All-Star Games, won two Silver Sluggers, and made the All-MLB Second Team in 2022 and All-MLB Team in 2025.
Rodríguez was born and raised in Loma de Cabrera, a town of 20,000 people in the Dominican Republic. While many MLB players are from the Dominican Republic, relatively few are from Loma de Cabrera, which is located near the border with Haiti. The most famous player from the town was Rafael Furcal.
Rodríguez's father was an agricultural engineer, his mother was a dentist, and he has three siblings. At ten years old, he began competing in a local baseball league with children three to four years older than himself. His father began coaching him at 12 years old, training him to play catcher because of his build. When he had a growth spurt the following year, he moved to the outfield. He first caught the attention of scouts when, at only 12 years old, he hit a ball to the outfield wall against a hard-throwing 17-year-old pitcher in a local tournament. When he was 14, Rodríguez left his family for a baseball academy in Santiago de Los Caballeros. The Mariners discovered him at his tryout for the academy in Santiago.
Rodríguez signed as an international free agent with the Seattle Mariners as a 16 year old in July 2017, receiving a $1.75 million signing bonus. He made his professional debut with the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Mariners in 2018, playing primarily right field and batting .315/.404/.525 with 50 runs, nine triples (tied for the league lead), five home runs, 36 RBI, and 10 stolen bases without being caught in 59 games. He was named both a DSL mid-season All-Star and a Baseball America DSL All-Star. He ended the season with a foot injury, and he traveled to Arizona for additional treatment.
Rodríguez started 2019 with the Class-A West Virginia Power in the South Atlantic League. He missed almost two months of the season with a fractured left hand. He was promoted to the Class A-Advanced Modesto Nuts in the California League in August, becoming one of only three 18-year-olds to play in High-A ball in 2019. He was more than three years younger than the average player in both leagues. Rodríguez played in the Arizona Fall League for the Peoria Javelinas after the 2019 regular season. As the youngest player in the league, he hit .288/.397/.365 in 63 plate appearances. He was named an AFL Rising Star.
In 2020, with the minor league season canceled, Rodríguez was ticketed for the Mariners alternate training site in Tacoma, but he broke his left wrist during a workout in July. He later participated in the fall instructional league in Arizona, then played 18 games for Leones del Escogido in the Dominican winter league, batting just .196 against much older competition. He also began training with former football player Yo Murphy to improve his speed, allowing him to play center field and steal more bases. In the minors, Rodríguez played mostly as a right fielder and did not steal more than 10 bases in a season before 2021.
Rodríguez started 2021 with the Everett AquaSox. In June, he was promoted to the Double-A Arkansas Travelers. Rodríguez was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game. In August, he was ranked as the best Mariners prospect and the second-best prospect in baseball by MLB.com. He missed almost a month of the minor league season due to his participation in the Summer Olympics. In 74 games in 2021, Rodríguez hit .347/.441/.560 with 13 home runs and 21 stolen bases. The Mariners added him to their 40-man roster on November 18 to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. After the season, he was a consensus top 3 prospect.
The Mariners named Rodríguez their Opening Day center fielder on April 4, 2022. He was the second-youngest major leaguer to start the season. He debuted in the majors on April 8 against the Minnesota Twins. After starting the season 1-for-21 with 12 strikeouts, Rodríguez took off. On May 1, he hit his first career home run, a three-run shot off Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara. Rodríguez was named American League (AL) Rookie of the Month consecutively for May and June. In 29 games in June, he scored 22 runs and hit .280/.361/.542 with seven home runs, 16 RBI, and five stolen bases.
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Julio Rodríguez
Julio Yamel Rodríguez (born December 29, 2000), nicknamed "J-Rod", is a Dominican professional baseball center fielder for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He signed with the Mariners as an international free agent in 2017. In his rookie season in 2022, he was named an All-Star along with winning the Silver Slugger Award and American League Rookie of the Year Award. Rodríguez has been selected to three All-Star Games, won two Silver Sluggers, and made the All-MLB Second Team in 2022 and All-MLB Team in 2025.
Rodríguez was born and raised in Loma de Cabrera, a town of 20,000 people in the Dominican Republic. While many MLB players are from the Dominican Republic, relatively few are from Loma de Cabrera, which is located near the border with Haiti. The most famous player from the town was Rafael Furcal.
Rodríguez's father was an agricultural engineer, his mother was a dentist, and he has three siblings. At ten years old, he began competing in a local baseball league with children three to four years older than himself. His father began coaching him at 12 years old, training him to play catcher because of his build. When he had a growth spurt the following year, he moved to the outfield. He first caught the attention of scouts when, at only 12 years old, he hit a ball to the outfield wall against a hard-throwing 17-year-old pitcher in a local tournament. When he was 14, Rodríguez left his family for a baseball academy in Santiago de Los Caballeros. The Mariners discovered him at his tryout for the academy in Santiago.
Rodríguez signed as an international free agent with the Seattle Mariners as a 16 year old in July 2017, receiving a $1.75 million signing bonus. He made his professional debut with the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Mariners in 2018, playing primarily right field and batting .315/.404/.525 with 50 runs, nine triples (tied for the league lead), five home runs, 36 RBI, and 10 stolen bases without being caught in 59 games. He was named both a DSL mid-season All-Star and a Baseball America DSL All-Star. He ended the season with a foot injury, and he traveled to Arizona for additional treatment.
Rodríguez started 2019 with the Class-A West Virginia Power in the South Atlantic League. He missed almost two months of the season with a fractured left hand. He was promoted to the Class A-Advanced Modesto Nuts in the California League in August, becoming one of only three 18-year-olds to play in High-A ball in 2019. He was more than three years younger than the average player in both leagues. Rodríguez played in the Arizona Fall League for the Peoria Javelinas after the 2019 regular season. As the youngest player in the league, he hit .288/.397/.365 in 63 plate appearances. He was named an AFL Rising Star.
In 2020, with the minor league season canceled, Rodríguez was ticketed for the Mariners alternate training site in Tacoma, but he broke his left wrist during a workout in July. He later participated in the fall instructional league in Arizona, then played 18 games for Leones del Escogido in the Dominican winter league, batting just .196 against much older competition. He also began training with former football player Yo Murphy to improve his speed, allowing him to play center field and steal more bases. In the minors, Rodríguez played mostly as a right fielder and did not steal more than 10 bases in a season before 2021.
Rodríguez started 2021 with the Everett AquaSox. In June, he was promoted to the Double-A Arkansas Travelers. Rodríguez was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game. In August, he was ranked as the best Mariners prospect and the second-best prospect in baseball by MLB.com. He missed almost a month of the minor league season due to his participation in the Summer Olympics. In 74 games in 2021, Rodríguez hit .347/.441/.560 with 13 home runs and 21 stolen bases. The Mariners added him to their 40-man roster on November 18 to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. After the season, he was a consensus top 3 prospect.
The Mariners named Rodríguez their Opening Day center fielder on April 4, 2022. He was the second-youngest major leaguer to start the season. He debuted in the majors on April 8 against the Minnesota Twins. After starting the season 1-for-21 with 12 strikeouts, Rodríguez took off. On May 1, he hit his first career home run, a three-run shot off Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara. Rodríguez was named American League (AL) Rookie of the Month consecutively for May and June. In 29 games in June, he scored 22 runs and hit .280/.361/.542 with seven home runs, 16 RBI, and five stolen bases.
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