25 HR and 25 SB in first two seasons? J-Rod stands alone

CINCINNATI — Julio Rodríguez on Monday added one other main milestone to a resume that’s shortly turning into stuffed with them.

Fresh off incomes his first profession American League Player of the Month nod, Rodríguez ripped a homer to right-center discipline in the course of the fourth inning towards the Reds that put him into the MLB report books: He’s the primary participant to register no less than 25 homers and 25 steals in every of his first two seasons.

The 22-year-old has a uncommon mixture of energy, velocity and youth, as solely eight others have managed no less than that many homers and steals in certainly one of their first two years in The Show.

Rodríguez’s twenty fifth blast was amongst his most majestic of 2023, a 411-foot solo shot towards a 95.4 mph middle-middle fastball from Reds righty Daniel Duarte that back-spun its approach nicely past the right-center-field wall at Great American Ball Park.

He’s additionally racked up 36 steals, placing him in place to presumably change into the fourth participant with a 25-40 yr in his age-22 season or youthful, together with Alex Rodriguez in 1998 (42 homers, 46 steals), César Cedeño in 1973 (25 homers, 56 steals) and Mike Trout in 2012 (30 homers, 49 stolen bases).

Earlier on Monday, Rodríguez mentioned being named the Mariners’ first AL Player of the Month since Nelson Cruz in April 2015. 

“It’s definitely been a lot of work, but a lot of team effort, too, that we were all in together,” Rodríguez mentioned. “It was pretty cool. It was a pretty cool month, and I’m just looking forward to keep building on to it.”

In August, he led all certified AL hitters in hits (45), doubles (10), RBIs (30), stolen bases (11), batting common (.429), on-base share (.474), slugging share (.724) and OPS (1.198). He additionally crushed seven homers and recorded 13 multihit video games in the course of the month, together with six video games with no less than three and 5 with no less than 4.

Rodríguez’s rise to being arguably the Majors’ hottest hitter over the previous month has coincided with the Mariners thrusting themselves into first place within the AL West.