Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez crushed a monster home run against the Padres that set an MLB record owned by Ellis Burks and Barry Bonds.
By most measures, the Seattle Mariners have been disappointing in the 2022 MLB season. Despite a talented young pitching staff and some intriguing pieces on the roster, the team has not been able to string together the wins to look the part of a playoff team. However, rookie Julio Rodriguez has been the undeniable brightest spot.
And on July 4, the youngster celebrated the holiday by giving Mariners fans even more to cheer about with a historic moment against the Padres.
With Seattle already up 2-0 on the road in San Diego on Monday, Rodriguez stepped to the dish with a runner on and unloaded an absolute moonshot to left field that may never have landed if not for the building standing in the ball’s way.
That home run put Rodriguez not just in rarefied air, but in air all to his own ahead of two baseball legends.
Mariners: Julio Rodriguez is fastest in MLB history with 15 home runs, 20 stolen bases
As pointed out by Mariners reporter Alex Mayer, Rodriguez now has 15+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases in his career 81 games, making him the fastest player to hit those milestones in MLB history, surpassing Ellis Burks and Barry Bonds, who accomplished the feat in 82 and 90 games, respectively.
Rodriguez has been a supernova of the best sort in Seattle this season. Yes, there have been some growing pains to be expected with a young player on a team that, overall, has struggled. But his performance has been undeniable.
Coming into Monday’s game, he was slashing .277/.337/.483 on the season and now has 15 homers, 43 RBI and 20 stolen bases.
There are still parts of his game that the 21-year-old needs to iron out to truly be an unstoppable superstar in baseball. But given the company he just joined with his Fourth of July milestone, it’s safe to assume that he’s well on his way.