By Miguel Rapetti
04 Sep 2023, 22:39 PM EDT
Dominican outfielder Julio Rodríguez made history once again and after hitting a home run in the 6-3 loss against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, he established a record in which he can boast of being the only player in the Major Leagues to achieve it.
During the top part of the fourth inning of the match and before the shipments of the Mexican Daniel Duarte, Rodríguez fished a broken pitch and deposited it all over the center field.
Although the home run represented reducing the deficit of five runs that the Mariners had, for the Hispanic it became quite a personal achievement, becoming the first player in MLB history to add at least 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases in each of his careers. first two campaigns.
Rodriguez, who was the American League rookie of the year in 2022, combines the five tools that make one of the most complete players in all of baseball, by accumulating good offensive average, power, speed, arm and defense.
This has also led him to be a candidate to join a select group of players who, aged 22 or younger, have been able to complete a campaign of at least 25 home runs and 40 stolen bases (he currently has 36 stolen bases).
Those who have done it in the past have been César Cedeño in 1973 (25 home runs and 56 steals), Alex Rodríguez in 1998 (42 home runs and 46 steals) and Mike Trout in 2012 (30 home runs and 49 stolen bases).
As if that were not enough, Rodríguez’s performance has earned him the award for the best player of the month of August, coinciding with the best moment of the Seattle Mariners this season.
Led by Rodríguez, in the last 20 games the Mariners have accumulated a record of 14 wins and six losses that have led them to take advantage of the Rangers’ slump and take first place in the American League West Division.