Everyone seems to make their annual year-in-review lists. Not me. Time to look into the ol' crystal ball. Time to predict the future.
As we celebrate a new year in sports, I give you the 20 Seattle sports figures I predict we'll talking about most often in 2020...
20 In '20: #7 Julio Rodriguez
Get ready, Seattle. As angry as you are about baseball right now, and America’s longest playoff drought, you’re about to get really excited again about Mariner baseball.
Julio is coming.
The fastest rising prospect in all of baseball is flying through the ranks of the Seattle organization. At age 19, Julio Rodriguez is fast approaching “top 10 prospect in the game status” with updated scouting grades that feature three different 70 (or A+) skill ratings—hitting, power and throwing arm.
The Rodriguez rise is occurring so swiftly, the 6’4” outfielder has passed fellow Mariner farmhand Jered Kelenic on some prospect ranking boards, and it is being whispered that he could be ready for the majors as early as this year. Do the Mariners—your Mariners—have the next Juan Soto or Ronald Acuna presently ripping his way through the minors and toward major league ready maturity?
We don’t want to rush anything, but it sure will be a blast monitoring Rodriguez’s countdown to the majors.