SEATTLE – At the end of the 2024 season, Jerry Dipoto, the Seattle Mariners president of baseball operations, verified what had grown evident over the previous five weeks as the M’s rolled out a daily lineup featuring Julio Rodríguez in center field with Randy Arozarena and Victor Robles flanking him in left and right field, respectively.
“Our outfield moving forward, I think you’re looking at it,” Dipoto said in an impromptu end-of-the-season news conference.
Now with the start of spring training less than a week away, the Mariners are still looking at the same outfield for the 2025 season.
Projected depth chart
Julio Rodríguez, CF, Randy Arozarena, LF, Victor Robles, RF, Luke Raley, RF/LF
Triple A: Dominic Canzone, RF, Cade Marlowe, OF, Rhylan Thomas, OF
Top prospects: Lazaro Montes, RF (High-A Everett), Jonny Farmelo, CF (High-A Everett), Tai Peete, OF/IF
2024 season review
Like almost every position on the team, the Mariners struggled to get consistent production from any of the outfield spots early in the season.
It began with a slow start from Rodríguez that carried well past the All-Star break. In his third MLB season, the Mariners’ young star struggled to find any sort of traction at the plate. An ankle injury suffered July 21 complicated matters and kept him out for almost three weeks. Rodríguez posted a .258/.311/362 slash line with 11 doubles, 11 homers, 38 RBI, 18 stolen bases and a 27% strikeout rate over the first five months of the season.
Seattle tried multiple combinations of players in the corner outfield spots early in the season, never finding production or consistency. When the Mariners picked up Robles on June 1 after he was released by the Nationals, it seemed like a low-risk gamble on a former top prospect. Robles played sparingly to start but eventually earned more playing time as he started to produce. It earned him a two-year contract extension. He posted a .328/.393/.467 slash line with 20 doubles, four homers, 26 RBI and 30 stolen bases in 77 games with Seattle.
The Mariners acquired Arozarena at the MLB trade deadline, giving up three prospects in return. He solidified a left field spot that has been a revolving door of different players with varying levels of success and skills for more than a decade.
Reason for optimism
The trio of Rodríguez, Arozarena and Robles gives the Mariners one of the most athletic outfields they’ve had in recent years. Rodríguez is a Gold Glove-level defender while Robles has proved to be an above average defender in right. The Mariners also have some depth at the position with Raley, who will see most of his time at first base. But really it’s the final six weeks of Rodríguez’s season that should provide the biggest reason for hope. Following the lead from Edgar Martínez, Rodríguez posted a .313/.364/.537 slash line with six doubles, nine homers and 30 RBI in his final 34 games while reducing his strikeout rate to 21%.
Reason for concern
Well, there are three – what if Rodríguez gets off to yet another slow start as he has the past two seasons, what if Robles returns to producing like the below-league-average player he was for most of his career with the Nationals and what if Arozarena’s production numbers continue to trend downward?
In 607 MLB games, Robles posted a .236/.311/.356 slash line with the Nats before being released. His quirky personality and sometimes confusing/questionable decision-making on the field snowballed into an issue for the Nats coaching staff.
Breakout candidate
Is it weird to think of Rodríguez as a breakout candidate given all that he’s accomplished in his first three seasons with the Mariners, including finishing seventh and fourth in the AL MVP voting in 2022 and 2023? But there is still so much more possible given his obvious talent and potential.
The thought of Rodríguez finding the level of consistency that Martinez once displayed at the plate, producing a higher contact rate and staying on the field for 150 games is tantalizing. He tried to shoulder much of the blame for the offense’s overall lack of production last season and the failure to reach the postseason. He vowed that it wouldn’t happen in 2025.
Given the improvements in his approach and swing, aided by Martínez’s teachings, and his work ethic and commitment to improvement, it’s difficult not to believe Rodríguez.