You really have to feel for Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez. His first season in the big leagues is off to a rocky start, and honestly, it’s not all his fault.
The 21-year-old Rodriguez is hitting .188 on the season. He only has 13 hits while leading the league in strikeouts looking with 17. But that’s where matters get awfully complicated for Rodriguez. Out of those 17 called strikeouts, only five of the pitches actually caught the strike zone. He’s a player who hit .331 in the minors with just 66 strikeouts in 299 at-bats last season. He has a good sense of the strike zone, and that’s been clear thus far in the majors.
These are the pitches Julio Rodriguez has struck out looking on this season pic.twitter.com/wnkhdUrPBE
— Welcome to the Ump Show (@umpjob) April 24, 2022
He’s just getting absolutely no help from umpires behind home plate, and those frustrations reached a boiling point on Thursday.
During Seattle’s game against the Rays, Rodriguez was called out on strikes in one of the weirder sequences this season. On Strike 2 (which missed the strike zone), home plate umpire Shane Livensparger called the pitch a strike while first base umpire Tom Hallion ruled that the rookie held up his swing.
This is a truly mind-boggling umpjob
Two different umpires make two separate wrong calls, on the same pitch. The home plate ump calls a ball a strike, and the first base ump calls a swing a checked swing. pic.twitter.com/0SF6O0kMNO
— Welcome to the Ump Show (@umpjob) April 28, 2022
Rays catcher Rene Pinto knew it was ball. It’s why he signaled to first base for help. That sparked some confusion with Mariners manager Scott Servais coming out to argue the call. At 3-2, Rodriguez would be called out looking on a pitch that also missed the strike zone.
part three: calling strike three on a ball out of the zone pic.twitter.com/BPZQEuLXuW
— Lydia Cruz (@TheLydiaCruz) April 28, 2022
Servais would get ejected after that, and for good reason.
thank you for coming to my “Julio Rodríguez gets jobbed at the plate” Ted Talk
I leave you with this Servais ejection and Blowers summarizing the experience with a sage quote
“there were a couple of confusing elements to that whole at-bat” pic.twitter.com/4CQ2AyMpl6
— Lydia Cruz (@TheLydiaCruz) April 28, 2022
Basically, Rodriguez had a five-ball at-bat turn into a strikeout. It’s almost impossible for Rodriguez to get a rhythm at the plate when umpires are essentially punishing him for having good awareness of the strike zone. That kind of treatment sets a promising young player up to fail, and that’s the last thing MLB needs. The broadcast said that it was about time the umpires pick on someone else, and Mariners fans certainly agreed.
It’s getting ridiculous at this point.