When Julio Rodríguez made the All-Star Sport and gained American League Rookie of the Yr honors in 2022, he turned the primary Seattle Mariners participant to perform these two feats in the identical season since Ichiro Suzuki 21 years prior.
That’s simply the beginning of the connection the 2 icons of Mariners historical past have.
Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez particulars the place his focus is for 2024
Whereas Rodríguez is just 23 years previous and coming into his third MLB season, he wasted no time in turning into a phenom after debuting, and is not simply the face of the Mariners franchise but additionally a possible face of the league.
If there’s anyone who can relate to that type of consideration and strain, it’s Ichiro, who was a sensation from Day 1 as the primary celebrity hitter to efficiently make the leap from his native Japan to the large leagues.
So maybe that’s why it’s not all that uncommon to see Rodríguez and Ichiro collectively each time they’ve the prospect, like this week when Seattle Sports activities’ Justin Barnes took this video of them taking part in catch on the Mariners’ spring coaching complicated in Peoria, Ariz.
It doesn’t get a lot cooler than that, does it?
Barnes, who’s a producer of Seattle Sports activities’ Brock and Salk, was with the present for the week at M’s spring coaching, and the subject of the cool connection between Ichiro and Julio got here up the day after the video was shot.
Brock Huard and Mike Salk landed upon the identical realization after watching the pair work together.
Huard, a former NFL quarterback who backed up Peyton Manning in Indianapolis, sees a similarity to the these two and the celebrity that was his teammate.
“I noticed Peyton’s little circle and the way arduous it’s to penetrate and get near anyone of that stage of fame,” Huard mentioned throughout Tuesday’s present. “How advantageous is it for this group to have Ichiro? Severely. For Julio, at that stage of stardom, to go, ‘I’m a giant deal, however proper now I’m taking part in toss with a man that’s so much larger deal than me, that could be a worldwide icon.’ … The burden of carrying stardom and all eyes on you on a regular basis.”
Salk had joined Seattle Sports activities’ Wyman and Bob the earlier afternoon and made an analogous remark, with the instance at the moment being John Elway, one other legendary quarterback who Dave Wyman performed with each in faculty at Stanford after which with the NFL’s Denver Broncos.
“I had this precise dialog with Wyman and Bob yesterday. I imply, virtually phrase for phrase,” Salk relayed. “Julio final yr needed to type of study, as you mentioned, type of shrinking the circle, and I feel he’s gonna begin to preserve individuals at extra of an arm’s size, and you recognize that was gonna occur. … So who’s he on the market with? Ichiro. The one individual right here who actually understands what that’s like. Similar to I requested you yesterday about being round Peyton, I requested Dave about being round Elway. Sooner or later, they will’t be like everyone.”
You’ll be able to hear the total dialog within the final section of the podcast beneath, in addition to Brock and Salk’s interview with Julio Rodríguez himself from Thursday at this hyperlink.
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