MARYVALE, Ariz. — He recognized the slider thrown by Freddy Peralta the moment it left his hand.
Down 0-1 in the count and with runners on first and second, he wasn't surprised by the pitch sequence. Peralta struck him out in his first at-bat with a passel of sliders.
Instead of sinking far into his legs to generate as much force and power from his immense lower half to hit the ball into the next county, which would've likely ended up with a ball pulled well into foul territory, the new and controlled Julio Rodriguez demonstrated what he's been working on the past few months.
His back leg flexed just enough to be noticeable, rhythmically propelling him forward as his hands stayed back just long enough until his front foot hit the ground and disciplined fury was unleashed on the mistake pitch.
Rodriguez sent a towering fly ball over the wall in left field for his first homer of the spring.
"I got a good pitch that I was able to drive," he said. "That's something that I've been really focusing on and that I will continue to focus on. And ... once ... get one, then do damage on them."
Really, that might not have been his most impressive swing in the Mariners' eventual 7-5 win over the Brewers on Saturday.
In his third plate appearance of the game, facing right-hander Joel Payamps, Rodriguez took advantage of a 93-mph fastball on the inner half the plate, scorching a line drive into the left field corner for a double. Per MLB Statcast, the double had 112-mph exit velocity. Of his balls put in play last season, only 13 had exit velocities above 113 mph.
It was verification of the thinking that went into his swing changes this offseason, or as he said earlier this spring: "I'm a big guy, I don't need to do a lot to be able to drive the ball."
Rodriguez believes that the more controlled lower half will help him have a better approach.
"Definitely, I feel like since I have a little bit less movement now, I'm able to focus on recognizing better pitches and have a little bit more time do it," he said.
Manager Scott Servais likes the changes Rodriguez made this offseason.
"He got in some bad habits early in last year, kind of squatting into his legs," Servais said. "And when you do that, you're going to come up and out of [the swing]. When your head is moving, the ball is moving even more than it does naturally."
In the past few spring trainings, Rodriguez would've been near the top of team leaders in games played, plate appearances and other offensive statistics.
But a sore left hand and the Mariners plan to let him build up like an established player has limited his action. He was playing in just his fourth game of the spring and has a total of 10 plate appearances with four hits. Rodriguez loves to play so much that he would play every game if the Mariners let him.
"It's a little bit weird," he said. "It's a little bit different, obviously. It feels like you got to build it up a little bit quicker in a way, but I feel like we got some decent time and based on the schedule that we talked about with Scott, I'm going to get enough at-bats by the end of spring training."
Batting behind Rodriguez in the lineup, veteran designated hitter Mitch Garver has seen the Mariners star close up.
"It's the same stuff I saw from the other dugout," Garver said. "He's not scared to go after a few pitches. But as you saw, he got a high slider around his chest and was able to hit it out and then took a sinker down the line. He can hit a lot of things. That's what he brings. There's guys that bring different qualities to the lineup. I'm a little bit more patient and I'm able to see a few more pitches, but with Julio, it's kind of like, take the reins off of him and let him go."
