ARLINGTON -- Julio Rodríguez spent the early part of Friday afternoon at Globe Life Field handing out new batting practice shirts featuring everyone’s new favorite racoon.
Yes, “Jimothy” -- the Seattle-area raccoon who’s gone viral well beyond the Pacific Northwest over the past week -- has grabbed the attention of the city’s most recognizable athletes.
The shirt is gray with navy lettering spelling the animal’s name, with an image of Jimothy himself -- the one-of-a-kind raccoon born with a small, rounded body and unique gait.
And the shirts were a way to bring levity to a clubhouse going through transition in the aftermath of assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes being relieved of his duties during Thursday’s off-day.
Asked of his reaction to the decision, Rodríguez said: “I would say I was a little surprised. But as players, you know how it always is. That’s not something we can control. Obviously, I love Bobby. He’s a person that I definitely want to stay in touch [with] and a person that … supported me a lot through all the time he was with us. He’s someone I would call a friend and a really good coach.”
Rodríguez is among the many hitters that the Mariners are banking on to pull them out of an offensive rut that’s spanned over a month. And he’s shown glimpses that second-half Julio could be on the cusp of a breakout, though he tempered that designation by calling it “mythical.”
That said, the star center fielder added: “I’m starting to feel like myself.”
Since returning from the concussion IL last Saturday, Rodríguez is 4-for-17 with a homer, a double and a walk-off sacrifice fly. He’s also been stinging it, with hard-hit balls on seven of his 14 in play, all but one of them at 107.5 mph or faster while topping out at 110.3 mph.
This is the type of contact we’ve seen from Rodríguez at his best, which typically comes around this time of year. Dating back to his 2022 rookie season, he ranks seventh in OPS (.902) and ninth in homers (64) among 195 qualified hitters after the All-Star break.
He also returned to center field on Friday for the first time since suffering what appeared to be a lower body injury when legging out an infield single on Monday. On that play, he was hit by an 85.9 mph throw from Elly De La Cruz near his left hip, then was seen grabbing the back of that leg.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson didn’t have more elaborate details on the issue, which kept Rodríguez out of the starting lineup the next day and had him at designated hitter the day after that. Wilson also cited how hard Rodríguez hit the bag as a factor.
In his first interview about the situation, Rodríguez said: “I don’t really want to make a comment about that. It is what it is. I just had to get out of the game.”
Regardless, by Friday, he’d cleared all the benchmarks to return to the field -- for a big showdown that could shape the scope of the American League West. Seattle (51-52) entered this four-game series a half-game behind Texas (51-51) for first place and two games back of the final AL Wild Card spot.
“I feel like the biggest thing is that we've done it before,” Rodríguez said. “That's just plain and simple. I feel like that's kind of like the biggest thing that we got, that we've done it before. We have a very skillful group and just like delivering that.
“We know there's a lot of baseball left, and like before, that's just something that definitely is on our side. We've experienced a bit, and just knowing that we have done it before. ... We're in a pretty good spot. We have a really big series ahead of us right now. Just trying to continue to take care of business in any way we can.”