Julio Rodríguez made a fan for life on Saturday afternoon.
The Seattle Mariners star center fielder gifted a young boy wearing his jersey a game ball after robbing a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Baltimore Orioles.
“He had a big sign with boxes on it, and the last box left to check was meeting me,” Rodríguez said, according to MLB. “I went over and said hi to him and talked to him a little bit between innings, and after I made the catch, I said: ‘Take that souvenir.’ I knew he’d appreciate that.”
The preceding play was automatically put on the highlight reel of Rodríguez’s early career.
Baltimore first baseman Ryan O’Hearn was all but certain he blasted a home run before Rodríguez jumped over the center-field wall and secured the out in a sprawling defensive play.
“I knew I had it the whole time, I just didn’t think that it was going to go so far,” Rodríguez said. “I definitely was looking forward to that.”
It was that ball that the lucky fan received, smiling big and hugging his dad after the interaction with Rodríguez.
While the Mariners ended up dropping the matinee matchup 6-4 in 10 innings, Rodríguez put together a well-rounded performance and had an impact on all ends of the field.
The 2022 AL Rookie of the Year’s homer –– his 13th of the season –– and stolen base saw him go 3-for-5 on the day.
Rodríguez has posted 41 RBIs and 17 steals while slashing .243/.305/.424 so far this year.
He is on track for 28 homers and 36 steals.
With the loss, Seattle’s record dropped just below .500, now 37-38.
Rodríguez has gotten right back to work.
“Even though we scored a lot of runs last night, he was in here early today, working on a few things with our hitting coaches,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “He was on it most of the day, and then made a fantastic catch. This ballpark has a tendency of producing some of those catches, and he got a good one.”
