Commentary: Yes, Julio Rodriguez hasn’t been at his best this season — but All-Star nod the right call

SEATTLE – No, Julio Rodriguez is not having the dominant, next-level season that was envisioned for him when he entered 2023 as MLB’s anointed “new face of the game.”

At times this year, Rodriguez has been maddening as he repeatedly chases pitches outside of the strike zone, or swings so hard he loses his balance when a lighter touch is clearly needed. It has been a sobering sophomore year of frustration and learning, perhaps the first time in his charmed baseball life Rodriguez has not dominated at will.

Yet amid the letdown – and that phrase only applies because of the extraordinary expectations hoisted upon Rodriguez – the flashes of his elite talent are still constant. Even with the struggles he’s had in the first half, J-Rod is on pace for 25 homers, 39 steals, 31 doubles, 96 runs and 91 runs batted in – a year that would thrill any mortal 22-year-old. He’s on roughly a 5 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) pace, below last year’s extraordinary rookie campaign but not exactly the numbers of a flop.

He might not have soared to the heights imagined for him – not yet, anyway. But it was still hard to fathom an All-Star Game in Seattle without Rodriguez.

And now we won’t have to.

Instead of just making a cameo appearance in the Home Run Derby on Monday, Rodriguez will be a full participant Tuesday when baseball’s best players compete at T-Mobile Park.

And the allure of the game just rose considerably.

Rodriguez and pitcher George Kirby were added to the squad on Tuesday as injury replacements. One of the most depressing local story lines this season was the confluence of an underachieving Mariners team with the midseason gathering of baseball’s elite in Seattle. What had once been foreseen as a perfectly timed celebration of a burgeoning contender and the Midsummer Classic in its hometown instead was devolving into a stark reminder of how far the Mariners had fallen.

Turns out there still might be time to salvage some good vibes after all. Not only did the Mariners win their fourth straight game Tuesday – and looked particularly sharp doing it – but they will now have three players in the All-Star Game instead of a token representative, pitcher Luis Castillo.

It’s far from the eight players they had in 2001, the last time Seattle hosted the All-Star Game, because the 2023 Mariners are light years removed from the ’01 team that reached the break that year with a 63-24 record and 19-game division lead. There may never be a more perfect marriage of team and occasion, especially when you add in a ballpark that was just two years old. Safeco Field back then was still a dazzling showcase for the city of Seattle after the dreary indoor mausoleum that was the Kingdome, and the All-Star Game was a perfect venue to show it off.

That same sort of thing was supposed to happen this year, especially after breaking the playoff drought last year. The ultratalented Rodriguez was expected to lift them to greater heights – except the Mariners didn’t cooperate by falling under .500 and drifting dangerously away from the pack in the wild-card race.

But the Mariners, with this minisurge, have given themselves a fighting chance in their final five games before the break to keep changing the deeply negative outlook that was permeating after a particularly dreadful stretch last week.

After losing a series to the lowly Nationals, the M’s hit rock bottom in a barrage of 15 straight runs allowed to Tampa Bay after a 4-0 lead. To their credit, the Mariners have rebounded rather than cratered further. If they have a good series in Houston to close out the first half, maybe All-Star week won’t be a referendum on the distressing state of the Mariners after all, as it recently appeared destined to be – and the fact that they could only muster one All-Star.

The All-Star Game is, above all else, an exhibition designed to entertain fans and build the brand. The star power of this year’s event has waned a bit with injuries to the likes of Aaron Judge, Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw that will keep them out of action.

Perhaps the league showed a little hometown favoritism in tapping Rodriguez and Kirby. I’m sure there are fans around baseball who are screaming that their snubbed player should have received the nod instead.

But Kirby is a rising star, and Rodriguez represents everything that is good about baseball. He plays the game with a joy and effervescence that is contagious and has an “it” factor of likability and charisma that was unleashed upon the viewing public during last year’s Home Run Derby. Beyond that, Rodriguez has true five-tool potential once he harnesses it fully. And that could be coming: He is hitting .296 over Seattle’s past 38 games since dipping to .204 on May 21. You can see his swing decisions becoming more sound by the day.

Rodriguez emerged as a budding superstar last year and was electric in the second half, when he put up a .303/.361/.576 slash line to lead the Mariners into the playoffs for the first time since the last time they hosted the All-Star Game. The consensus in baseball was that a new superstar had been born at age 21.

There’s no reason that shouldn’t be a consideration for selecting this year’s team. No, Rodriguez hasn’t set the baseball world ablaze in 2023. But the All-Star Game will be better for having him in it.