Julio Rodriguez, sore hand healed, makes his Cactus League debut

PEORIA, Ariz. – What did Julio Rodriguez take away from his first Cactus League game of the spring on Saturday?

“It felt great,” he said. “I can definitely tell I need to build up in game because, ‘Whew, it was hot out there.’ It’s different when you are out there on the field and actually in a game and not just training. I just have to build that up.”

He went 0 for 2 but hit the ball crisply in both plate appearance. He also bobbled a ball in the outfield.

The crowd welcomed him with huge rounds of applause when he came to the plate and fans on the berm burst into chaotic screams anytime he threw a baseball to them.

Rodriguez’s first game in spring training was delayed by a sore left hand.

It wasn’t anything of major concern. The hand got sore and a little a swollen after some long hitting sessions.

At first he thought it was the product of a high volume of swings and using different training bats that featured different bat knobs. But he found positives from it.

“I feel like it kind of helped me out,” he said. “Because of what I was doing to prior to that, my hand got a little … off. I feel like I figured out some ways for it not to happen. I’m somebody that if something happens and I face adversity, I try to look the bright side of it. So I feel like it helped me out actually for the long run.”

Rodriguez reassessed the position of his left hand on the bat and in the swing, making some changes.

“It helped me out to actually be more fluid with my swing and with my finish and everything,” he said. “Obviously, I’m gonna watch the volume of it, but I feel like the biggest thing that I got out of it was kind of like the position that allowed me to actually have a better, more fluid swing.”

Rodriguez arrived in camp with a different look to his setup and start to swing. He’s standing a little more upright and isn’t using an exaggerated “load” in his back leg where he would dramatically flex it to generate power and drive forward. At times it would look like he would almost squat down, changing his eye level and causing timing issues. The flex is there, but much less pronounced.

“Offseason, that’s what it was from,” he said . “I was working that’s what was happening. You’re gonna start noticing some differences like throughout. But that one of the things that I tried cleaning up. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t have as much movement. I’m a big guy, I don’t need to do a lot to be able to drive the ball.”

Rodriguez wanted to simplify his swing with less movement in his legs to start. When he talked with his personal hitting coach, Oswaldo Diaz, they agreed it was a good idea.

“I just kind of got rid of that move,” he said. “It’s just for the better. What I did, I went back to one of my older swings that probably not a lot of you guys have even seen. I was not even a pro when I was doing that. “

Rodriguez isn’t someone that will settle for status quo, particularly without expected feel or results. Even after finishing fourth in the AL MVP voting, he wants a more consistent production throughout the season and in key moments.

“I’m pretty honest with how I feel and how I do things,” he said. “Once I feel something’s not working, I feel like I’m always trying to get it better. That was one of the things that in 2022 it worked pretty well. But in 2023, it wasn’t doing its thing. So I feel like we had find a way to get better and I thought that was one of them.”

Rodriguez talked early in the spring about his disappointment with his performance last season, calling it a sophomore slump.

He played in 155 games, posting a .275/.333/.485 slash line with 37 doubles, three triples, 32 homers, 103 RBIs, 37 stolen bases, 47 walks and 175 strikeouts. His 5.9 FanGraphs WAR was fourth highest among all American League position players.

Most players couldn’t hope to have that sort of slump season.

But he’s driven to be something more than what he’s been in MLB. Being good doesn’t cut it. He loves the game too much to disrespect it without total commitment. He will always expect more from himself.

His thinking was verified in a recent encounter with the Suns’ Kevin Durant. Rodriguez, a huge fan of the NBA, was excited to talk to Durant about his passion for the game and constant drive to improve. He posted a picture with the Suns small forward to his Instagram. Durant at 6-11 towered over the 6-4 Rodriguez.

“My neck got sore looking up and talking to him,” he joked.

The two star athletes talked for 30 minutes about their lives and their professions. Rodriguez learned how much Durant loves the game of basketball. That the hours spent in the gym honing his craft are what he enjoys. It’s not work. It’s not practice. It’s what Durant loves to do. And he doesn’t really care to do much else.

“He spends hours at the gym working on his game and then just goes home,” Rodriguez said.

It’s an obsession that he understands. Rodriguez feels the same about baseball. It brings him joy. He would spend hours at the complex hitting, lifting and working on his defense if the team would let him.

“It was really cool to hear that,” Rodriguez said. “We aren’t that different.”