J-Rod teases swing changes in spring debut

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Though the minor inflammation on the back of his left hand was not a cause for concern, any time Julio Rodríguez is out of the Mariners’ lineup draws attention -- which is why a milestone as minute as his first Cactus League action Saturday was nonetheless notable on the march toward Opening Day.

Rodríguez’s final line wasn’t as remarkable, grounding into a double play to the second baseman in the first and hitting another groundout to the shortstop in the third. In the field, he bobbled a ball on a transfer from his glove to throwing hand in center field before being pulled after three innings in what turned into a 12-8 Seattle loss to Oakland.

The kinks, he said, were expected.

“I can tell now that I've got to build up my game, because oof -- it was a little hot out there,” Rodríguez said. “Just kind of like being out there on the field. I feel like it's different when you're just training than actually being in the game, standing and like doing all those things. So I've just got to build that up.”

As for his left hand, Rodríguez said the issue was more related to his positioning rather than the volume of swings he took upon arriving to camp early, compounded by using a few bat knobs other than those custom made to his grip, which hadn’t yet arrived.

“I feel like it kind of helped me out, to say it like that,” Rodríguez said of debuting one week after Cactus League play began. “I feel like because of what I was doing prior to that, my hand got a little bit pissed off. And I feel like I figured out some ways for that to not happen. I feel like I'm somebody that, if I face something in adversity, I always try to look at the bright side of it.”

It led to some adjustments to clean up his mechanics.

“It helped me out to actually be more fluid with my swing and like my finish and everything,” Rodríguez said. “Obviously, I'm going to watch the volume of it. But I feel like the biggest thing that I got out of [resting] is just kind of like the position that allowed me to actually have a better, more fluid swing.”

But it goes deeper.

Peer closer and there’s less nuance to Rodríguez’s setup in the box -- specifically, having toned down the slight crouch he takes after a pitcher releases the ball and he gets into the hitting position. Rodríguez said those were self-recognized going into the winter then installed this offseason with help from his personal hitting instructor, Osvaldo Diaz.

“You're going to start noticing some differences throughout,” Rodríguez said. “But I feel like those were some of the things that I tried cleaning up. Just to make sure that I don't have as much movement. I'm a big guy, I don't need to do a lot to be able to drive the ball.”

The swing is more comparable to one from well before he debuted in the Majors, he said.

“I feel like I'm pretty honest into how I feel, into how I do things,” Rodríguez said. “And once I feel that something's not working, I feel like I'm always trying to get it better. That was one of the things that, let's say in '22, it worked pretty well. But in '23, it wasn't doing its thing. So I feel like we found a way to kind of get better, and I feel like that was one of them.”

Rodríguez won’t return to the lineup again until Tuesday, after a down day on Sunday and the Mariners’ team off-day on Monday, which aligns with manager Scott Servais’ allocation of two days between Cactus games for most of his starters during the early slate.

Because Rodríguez plays with such octane and energy, he’s been incredibly deliberate about his work behind the scenes -- not just for preparation, but also, workload management. He played in 155 games last year, when he finished fourth in the AL MVP Award voting, and intends to reach a similar mark in 2024.

“I understand when my body feels good, like ready to compete,” Rodríguez said. “I feel like that's just the only thing that I'm trying to get out of it. I feel like everything on my swing and all those things, I feel like I got it before. And now, I just feel like I need to get like game-time basically.”