The Seattle Mariners might be at the top of the AL West standings with a 27-24 record, but they lost again vs. the New York Yankees and are one of the worst division leaders in baseball.
They currently boast the worst record among division leaders and are the only one with a negative run differential, at -4.
The situation can be partially explained by Julio Rodriguez’s extended slump.
The 23-year-old star and former AL Rookie of the Year went 0-for-4 on Thursday against the Yanks’ top pitching staff, and his overall season line fell to a disappointing .257/.306/.312 with a .618 OPS.
The contact numbers aren’t too different from what he has done in his career, but his power has completely disappeared.
Things are starting to become worrisome.
Overall, J-Rod had a miserable series against New York, further extending his slump.
“Julio Rodriguez went 1-for-16 in this series against Yankees pitching,” Yankees insider Bryan Hoch tweeted.
Julio Rodriguez went 1-for-16 in this series against Yankees pitching.
The center fielder, usually an extra-base hit machine, has just five doubles and two home runs in 51 games this season.
His RBI tally is just 14, and his slugging percentage is in danger of going lower than .300.
Seattle deserves a lot of credit to be where they currently are with Rodriguez playing like this.
Once he wakes up from his doldrums (a likely outcome given, well, history), the Mariners could become much more dangerous.
They already are, with that excellent pitching staff, but they need J-Rod to be much better if they want to put together a World Series run.