Julio Rodriguez has burst onto the scene with the West Virginia Power in 2019. Through the team’s first nine games, the Dominican Republic native is averaging a team-best .355 with three RBI and three extra-base hits. His raw power and natural athleticism have been joys to behold for both Power and Mariners fans alike, as well as his mile-wide smile that makes everyone a fan of his at their first interaction.

Julio Rodriguez has enjoyed his first smattering of games stateside in 2019 (Joe Williams).

The 18-year-old began his year on a high note, recording a hit in his first six games of the season, as well as a seven-game on-base streak. Rodriguez became just the third Power player in team history to ignite his campaign with a streak of that length, joining Tito Polo (2016, 10 games) and Calvin Mitchell (2018, 6 games).

But you can put all of the numbers aside and focus on one play just to define how mythical Rodriguez has seemed in the early portion of 2019, and it happened a week ago today in Lexington at Whitaker Bank Ballpark.

West Virginia had just gotten underway against its old rival, the Lexington Legends, in the first game of a three-game series. On a cool and crisp night, Legends starter Jonathan Bowlan mowed through the Power in the top of the first, with the exception of Rodriguez of course, who stung a ball deep in the hole at short for an infield single to extend his hitting streak.

On to the bottom of the frame, with left-hander Steven Moyers taking the hill for his Power debut. The 25-year-old induced a soft ground out from Michael Gigliotti to start the inning, but then trouble nearly ensued. Lexington second baseman Nathan Eaton blasted a pitch from Moyers deep to left-center field, and from the moment it hit the bat everyone in the ballpark though it was gone.

“The 2–1 pitch….is rocked in the air to deep left-center field,” spoke David Kahn, the Power’s play-by-play broadcaster, his voice crescendoing along with the baseball as it arched its way towards the wall.

And then, this happened…..

Rodriguez pulled off one of the hardest plays in baseball, gathering all of his 6–3, 180-pound frame and leaping in perfect rhythm to steal Eaton’s first home run of the season away from him, and keep the Power pitching staff’s homer-less streak alive (which would eventually extend to 75.1 innings).

“When I saw the ball off the bat, I thought it was a normal fly ball,” Rodriguez quipped in an interview the next day. “But then I saw it get caught up in the wind, and it kept going and going and going, so I realized I would have to jump.”

As he neared the wall, the outfielder had a momentary conversation with himself.

“I got near the fence, and I said to myself, ‘I have to go get this ball. Let’s go get it!’”

And get it he did. Afterwards, Rodriguez found it hard to contain his excitement.

“Once I jumped, I knew I got it. I came down with it and I was so excited. I screamed ‘Let’s go!’ That was a great moment,” Rodriguez recalled.

Julio Rodriguez reached base safely in his first seven games of the 2019 season (Sam Santilli).

The next day, Rodriguez said he learned how to rob a home run by watching YouTube videos of Mike Trout, one of his favorite baseball players to emulate. While he was still in the Dominican Julio would try and reproduce what he saw from Trout online, and his numbers in his first professional season seemed to represent that. In 59 games in 2018, the international signee boasted a .315 clip with five homers and 36 RBI, while finishing among the DSL leaders in triples, slugging percentage and OPS.

One of the things he interpreted from watching Trout was how high you have to jump to rob a home run, and he notes that the wall in Lexington didn’t exactly aid with that endeavor in any way.

“The fences here are not short, so you have to jump very high, and you have to keep your focus, otherwise, you won’t be able to catch it,” Rodriguez said.

Much like the focus he puts into performing on the field each day, the Mariners’ high-ranking prospect also continues to work on his English.

(Note: He did the whole interview for this feature in English, and only asked for one question to be rephrased)

One of the reasons Rodriguez was so ready to make his debut stateside in 2019 was because of how deeply he ingratiated himself into the English language last offseason during the Mariners’ High Performance Camp. Rodriguez’s sole focus during that session was to improve his English, and he’s made great strides since he first started.

“When I was much younger and back in the Dominican, I used to watch sports (mostly MLB Network) with my father to learn about sports and the English words around the game. I was learning a lot,” Rodriguez said.

Though he’s no longer under the tutelage of his father, Rodriguez continued his development of the English language daily in Spring Training, as well as here in Charleston, asking teammates and players about words he hears that he doesn’t know. His mantra is: “My mind is open. I’m willing to learn.”

That’s an impressive attitude for an 18-year-old prospect who’s already had loads of praise and expectations heaped onto his broad shoulders, but if you ask Rodriguez, he doesn’t mind carrying that load. In fact, he doesn’t even think about it.

To him, prospect lists are meaningless. He has much loftier goals, and it all comes down to one simple thing: He wants to be the best he can be. If Julio Rodriguez is playing at his best and his hardest every single day, then he’s achieving his own expectations, which is all that matters to him.

He derives that ambition not only from baseball, but observing other sports, including his favorite NBA team, the Milwaukee Bucks, and his favorite player, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

“He’s helped his team beat the best of the best (referencing the defending champion Golden State Warriors). He gives really good effort every single day in everything that he does,” Rodriguez noted. “That’s what I’m trying to do here. I compete against the best players out there, and I beat them. That’s the only thing that I want to do.”

Rodriguez doesn’t want to be the next Trout, or play just as good as Antetokounmpo in the NBA. He wants to be better than them. He wants to be the best in the game; the best in all of sport. He knows that he has a long way to go to get there, but he’s off to a very good start.