By Charles Hamaker

Seattle, WA - After he had spent half an inning in centerfield and before he could stand in the batters box for his first plate appearance of the Saturday, July 6th, 2024 game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners young star Julio Rodríguez was pinch-hit for by Ty France and removed from the game due to discomfort in his right squad, as he felt something unusual in that area while warming up for this contest pregame. It isn’t quite the knee injury that some on social media theorized that it may be given a foul ball in last night’s win over Toronto, but regardless it’s something to take note of for the Mariners star outfielder. Rodríguez was absent from the Mariners dugout for the remainder of the game as he deals with that quad ailment, as Luke Raley (Who was playing first base to begin the ballgame) moved to centerfield as Ty France (Who was on the bench to begin the ballgame) took over at first base. Rodríguez will undergo an MRI to find out more information regarding what the severity or true nature of that injury is, and everyone with ties to the Mariners will keep an eye on the situation until more information is provided.

Seattle Mariners centerfielder Julio Rodríguez during the Friday, July 5th, 2024 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Kevin Ng)

During the pregame running drills that Julio does ahead of each game, something didn’t quite feel right but he opted to remain in the game in an attempt to play things through. That pain or feeling didn’t go away or remained noticeable enough that it bothered Julio once the top of the inning ended, and he had to be taken out of the game. Given the different issues that Rodríguez has been through the past few games, it’s smart to take precaution with something that can be so serious as a quad injury, and get anything figured out now before it gets worse.

Rodríguez has taken a few knocks over the past few days during this current nine-game homestand, as he fouled a 96.6 mph Sinker off that looked potentially as though it could have hit Julio, but in the video if you click here, there’s hardly any sort of reaction from that so it seems unlikely that’s bothering him enough to be completely taken out of the game. Every other plate appearance from Rodríguez was done after just one pitch (Yes, three instances throughout the rest of the ballgame where Julio saw one pitch and was done), so unless something happened in last night’s game that we weren’t made aware of, it’s unlikely that’s the reasoning even if he does move somewhat gingerly following that ball being fouled off. It could also have been the adrenaline in him that was keeping Julio from feeling that foul ball more. The day before, in the series finale win over the Baltimore Orioles, Rodríguez seemed to jam his thumb while making a tough play starting into the sun for a fly ball. Julio had his manager Scott Servais and Head Athletic Trainer Kyle Torgerson come out to check him, but remained in the ballgame and did hit a home run in the half inning following that injury scare.

While it’s obviously inconvenient on the injury level, as dealing with or experiencing injuries is never fun, it’s also unfortunate for Rodríguez and the Mariners considering that he’d started to find a bit of his form yet again in recent weeks. Hitting the ball better, squaring it up more and being better about not chasing are things that Julio had displayed recently, as he’s tried to navigate out of another rough beginning to the season that’s largely looked like a slower season overall as compared to his first two years. While just getting Julio to produce on a more consistent level isn’t the cure-all to this Mariners offense, it’s still a big help for a Seattle lineup that hasn’t been able to find hardly any real momentum throughout the course of the 2024 campaign.

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Cover photo of this article by Liv Lyons, check out her portfolio here.

Check out Circling Seattle Sports’ previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here.

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