Seattle Mariners Julio Rodriguez entered the season as one of the best potential players in baseball and he lives up to the hype. Rodriguez launched Monday night a 429-foot home on the third floor of the Western Metal Supply Building in left field in Petco Park (GameTracker). It’s a poke to hit him there.
Here is a video of Rodriguez’s giant explosion:
Rodriguez’s home run on Monday was the 15th of the season, and it made some mysterious history. Rodriguez has reached 15 career home runs and 20 stolen career bases in 81 career games, and is the fastest player in history. Here are the five fastest to reach these two milestones:
- Julio Rodriguez: 81 matches
- Ellis Burks: 82 matches
- Cal Daniels: 88 matches
- Barry Bonds: 90 matches
- Eric Davis: 91 matches
This is a wonderful company. Bonds are some of the best players ever, Davis is one of the most exciting players of the past 40 years, and Burks had a very productive 18 year career. Daniels was a good player too. He retired with over 100 homers and worked the .285/ .382/ .479 batting line in parts of seven seasons. There is also this:
21-year-old Rodriguez started the season slowly, scoring just .205/.284/.260 in April. He’s been on the rampage since the end of the first month of the season, composing the .300/.355/.555 hitting streak with 14 home runs in 60 games since May 1. Rodriguez leads the MLS with 20 stolen bases. He has a legitimate chance in the 30/30 season as a rookie.
Were it not for “Houston Astros Rookie Jeremy Peña,” Rodriguez would be the favorite AL Rookie of the Year. Peña has been excellent too, and we could be heading into a Rookie of the Year race similar to 2015, when Carlos Correa beat Francisco Lindor in one of the closest elections ever to end.
