‘Bet on me’: How rookie Julio Rodriguez became the Mariners’ $470 million man
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Aug. 31. Rodriguez is a nominee for AL Rookie of the Year, which will be announced Monday night.
JULIO RODRIGUEZ WAS barely 18, playing baseball in the United States for the first time, when he made his biggest impression on a Seattle Mariners franchise that now adores him.
It wasn’t how he hit or how he fielded or how he ran — it was how he watched.
Minor league spring training can be long and arduous, with early wake-up times and heavy conditioning before players even pick up a bat or a glove. Rodriguez got his first taste of it in 2019, less than two years after signing out of the Dominican Republic. But he quickly carved out a routine. After his day was finished, he’d walk to the main field of Peoria Sports Complex, stand against a brick wall on the walkway behind home plate and watch the major league spring training game with noticeable intent — backpack on his back, brim of his cap pulled down above his eyes, a budding superstar hiding in plain sight.
Many of those responsible for rewarding Rodriguez with a record contract have harkened back to those moments in recent weeks. To them, that time embodied three defining characteristics that are as pronounced as his five tools — a youthful obsession with baseball, an unconditional devotion to his teammates and a quiet, assertive confidence that is ever-present.
“He’s watching because he’s fascinated with what’s happening with the major league players and because he knows that that’s where he’s going to be,” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said. “And he’s been sizing it up since he was 18 years old.”
With less than five weeks left in his rookie season, Rodriguez, now 21, is the best player on a team poised to snap a historic postseason drought, a favorite for the American League Rookie of the Year Award and, as of Friday, owner of a long-term deal that will pay him anywhere between $210 million and $470 million over the life of his career, an unprecedented — and highly complex — contract for someone with less than a full year of major league service time.
The Mariners’ principal decision-makers were initially captivated by Rodriguez’s ceiling, then awed by how he changed his body to become a dynamic center fielder. They marveled at how he handled torturous early struggles to somehow become an All-Star at midseason and were drawn by how his rise has helped propel the group that surrounds him. But they were also moved by his infectious joy and unwavering authenticity.
They saw it in how his eyes lit up when his name was listed among potential fill-ins at a major league spring training game for the first time and how he went around the room high-fiving everyone on the list with him. In how he traveled to West Virginia to boisterously cheer for teammates at the South Atlantic League All-Star Game, even though an injury had kept him from participating. In how he became a beloved figure within a big league clubhouse full of accomplished veterans who would typically scoff at a young player who promotes himself so aggressively.
“As good a player as he is and as fun as he is to watch, he’s so much more than that,” Dipoto said. “He’s just such a genuine human being.”
THE “JROD SHOW,” a popular moniker for the palpable energy that seems to surround everything Julio Rodriguez does on a baseball field, finally received a national audience during the Home Run Derby. Julio Rodriguez Sr. took it all in from behind the first-base dugout, watching as his son stirred a sold-out crowd while surging past Corey Seager and two-time reigning champion Pete Alonso in the first and second rounds. Everyone seemed to wonder how a young rookie would handle a big stage stuffed with so many headliners and yet Rodriguez had taken the liberty of turning Dodger Stadium into his own personal playground. He advanced into a final-round showdown with Juan Soto, then called his father down to the edge of the railing, wrapped him in a long embrace and uttered two words that still give Julio Sr. chills.
“We’re here.”
Julio Sr. had spent the afternoon broadcasting each of Rodriguez’s swings on his Instagram page. His son’s performance, which ended in a runner-up finish, qualified as appointment television for the people in Rodriguez’s hometown of Loma de Cabrera, a small Dominican city of roughly 20,000 located near the Haitian border.
It made Julio Sr. think back to the way his son used to wow crowds during batting practice as a child. The most memorable of those performances came on a rainy summer afternoon in 2012, in a town called Tamboril, a municipality within the Santiago province. Rodriguez was 13, swinging a comically small, light-brown Axe Bat that a friend had lent him — and he pelted baseballs to places none of the bigger kids could reach.
“Everybody started coming up to me and asking me where he’s from right after he took that first swing,” Julio Sr. said in Spanish. “That’s where Julio’s story began.”
His exploits sent him to another showcase in Tamboril, at the site of a program run by a man named Juan Francisco Peña, known throughout the island as “Kiko.” Rodriguez showed up with another Axe Bat — this one black, in noticeably worse condition — and cracked its barrel with a double off an 18-year-old pitcher throwing into the mid-90s, cementing his place as one of the most tantalizing teenagers on the island.
Rodriguez is now a lean, muscular 6-foot-3, 228 pounds, but it wasn’t long ago that he was noticeably pudgy. His father began training him as a catcher when he was 12 because, Julio Sr. said, “He was a big kid who ate a lot.” His move to the outfield less than a year later was a reaction to a sudden growth spurt — immediately, and coincidentally, following a harrowing bout with the chikungunya virus — and a belief that his bat was too valuable for the rigors of squatting behind home plate. As he continued to develop in the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez began to profile as a power-hitting corner outfielder. Few saw a five-tool phenom.
“If you speak to any of the scouts that scouted him as a young kid, I could tell you 99.9 percent of them would say he was going to be a corner guy,” Brian Mejia, one of Rodriguez’s representatives at Octagon, said. “Big power, big kid, thickness to the lower half. And this guy just changed himself into who he is.”
Andy McKay, the Mariners’ director of player development, began working with Rodriguez at the onset of his professional career and was always struck by his desire to embrace challenges.
Rodriguez was only 17 and had yet to play a single game in the U.S. during the summer of 2018, but he was hellbent on playing in the Arizona Fall League that year and asked what he needed to do to make it happen. McKay was shocked. “That’s not how it works,” he told him. As his development continued, McKay frequently noticed how badly Rodriguez wanted to face the opposing team’s best pitchers, often counting the number of baserunners required for him to square off against a lights-out closer. When Rodriguez told him he wanted to become a center fielder, McKay knew he’d work for it.
“He wanted to improve his game, he wanted to play faster and he wanted to play center field,” McKay said, “so he took it upon himself to do the things that he needed to do.”
Rodriguez wanted to play center field largely because of what it meant — that he was the leader of the outfield, a five-tool threat, up there with the greatest talents in the sport. His transformation played out gradually, subtly, most of it in the offseason months at a Tampa, Florida, facility run by his agents — and then it smacked his organization in the face.
The Mariners began to play Rodriguez in center field on a semi-regular basis near the tail end of the 2021 minor league season, then invited him to their monthlong high-performance camp, a holistic spin on baseball training that has replaced instructional league for the organization’s brightest prospects. Rodriguez had spent the previous few weeks talking about how he could beat fellow outfield prospect Victor Labrada, one of the fastest players in the minor leagues, in a footrace. Few believed him — until he made good on his promise, dusting Labrada in what amounted to a 30-yard sprint as fall approached.
Suddenly the expectations around him changed.
“It really did open our eyes to like, ‘Holy cow, this is a different kind of athlete than what we had originally signed and the work he has done has really changed how the whole thing works,'” Mariners assistant general manager Justin Hollander said. “We always had him as a future corner outfielder. Julio’s probably going to laugh when he sees this because he thrives, like most great players, when you tell him he can’t do something.”
FIVE MONTHS AGO, around midday in spring training, Julio Rodriguez sat next to Dipoto in the dugout holding one of his favorite Victus bats — black, with the sobriquet “JRod” graffitied in various teal-colored fonts around the barrel.
“That,” Dipoto exclaimed, “is sweet.”
“Papi,” Rodriguez responded, “they made it especially for me.”
Rodriguez — with light, droopy eyes and a smile that often stretches out beyond the edges of them — seems to live in a state of perpetual wonder. His trademark joy stems largely from gratitude. The signature confidence, he’ll say, comes from “the work.” And the work is driven largely by a desire to prove others wrong.
Rodriguez approached Dipoto that day in search of motivation. He began to grind on his bat and asked Dipoto, seven years into his run as the Mariners’ head of baseball operations, whether he truly believed he could handle center field.
“I know a lot of people don’t think I can play center field,” Rodriguez said. “I thrive when people don’t think I can do stuff.”
“Well,” Dipoto recalled saying, “unfortunately for you I actually do think you can do it because I’ve been watching you, and I’ve learned not to bet against you.”
Silence followed.
“You know what I don’t think you can do?” Dipoto finally said, and Rodriguez suddenly perked up. “I don’t think you can do 30-30, or ever win a Triple Crown.”
Rodriguez looked at his bat again, then looked back at Dipoto.
“All right,” he said, “it’s on.”
The final month of the regular season is approaching, and Rodriguez still stands a decent chance at accomplishing the first of those challenges, while on pace for 27 home runs and 30 stolen bases. If not for the wrist injuries that forced him to miss 15 games earlier in the second half, his pursuit of 30-30 might be a forgone conclusion. He’s the third-youngest player in the majors this year and yet his slash line sits at .264/.324/.468, with 21 home runs and 23 stolen bases through his first 112 games. He’s also providing Gold Glove-caliber defense in center field, where he has accumulated six outs above average.
It’s easy to forget, given the way it’s going, that Rodriguez entered 2022 as an unfinished product. He produced spectacular numbers at every level, but his brief development track was interrupted by fractures to his left hand and later to his left wrist, a Bronze-medal-winning Olympic stint with the Dominican Republic and a COVID-19 pandemic that wiped out an entire minor league season. Rodriguez arrived in spring training this year with less than 1,000 minor league plate appearances under his belt. But the Mariners made him their Opening Day center fielder regardless. McKay had known him long enough to believe he’d possess the appropriate mindset.
“Everybody has confidence that ebbs and flows and comes from different sources,” McKay said. “Julio’s, a big part of his is how much he loves to compete. It removes the fear of failure for him. Nothing is a challenge for him; it’s all an opportunity. But it all stems from this genuine love of competing and being on a baseball field. It’s just pure joy for him. He’s not threatened by the situation. It’s an opportunity for him.”
A defining opportunity arrived during his first month in the major leagues. It marked the first time Rodriguez had ever truly struggled on a baseball field. He went homerless through April, finishing with a .206/.284/.260 slash line and 30 strikeouts in 20 games.
Ten of those punchouts were called strikes on pitches outside of the zone, at least five more than any other player that month, according to research from ESPN Stats & Information. Rodriguez was clearly getting the rookie treatment from the industry’s umpires, exasperating many of the people around him. But he hardly complained and never really wavered in his approach. His chase rate remained steady and his exit velocities remained high. He seemed to carry himself with a belief that the results were inevitable, as if no other outcome could possibly exist.
“He understood who he was, he understood this is what happens in this league, and I think he gained a lot of respect from us for doing that,” Mariners starting pitcher Marco Gonzales said. “I was frustrated for him. I think a lot of people were. But he never let that show.”
Julio Sr., who still makes his home in the Dominican Republic, flew to the United States with Rodriguez’s mother and two of his siblings for the start of the Mariners’ season and watched as his son went 1-for-21 with 12 strikeouts through the opening road trip. When the team got to Seattle, Julio Sr. thought about cutting his trip short. He was afraid his presence was causing a distraction. Regardless, the pain was too much to endure up close.
“You don’t believe in me?” Rodriguez asked.
Julio Sr. shook his head. It wasn’t that, he said. He told him young players get sent down when they struggle like that, and he didn’t want that for him. He knew how hard he worked, how badly he wanted it and he was afraid of what a demotion might do to his psyche. Rodriguez put his hand on his father’s shoulder and looked him dead in the eye.
“Nobody’s sending me down,” he said. “Bet on me.”
EARLY FAILURES CAN often ruin the careers of highly regarded young players. Cautionary tales are littered throughout baseball. But Rodriguez quickly recovered, in a way fellow Mariners prospects Evan White and Jarred Kelenic famously couldn’t.
“He has such a good way of slowing the game down,” Mariners first baseman Ty France said. “It takes some guys a long time to figure that out and he figured it out right away.”
Rodriguez was named AL Rookie of the Month in May, then again in June, then got invited to the All-Star Game in Los Angeles, which evolved into something of a coming-out party. Media hounded him, the game’s legends flocked toward him, but one conversation with Mike Trout, lasting no longer than 10 minutes, qualified as his favorite moment. Rodriguez’s eyes seemed to glisten at every mention of it.
The end of the Derby’s first round had triggered a prolonged break, during which many of the All-Stars escaped the summer heat inside their respective clubhouses. Trout was within eyesight, playing with his young son, Beckham. Rodriguez found a rolling chair, pulled up uncomfortably close and asked the question that had been on his mind.
“How do I become you?”
Trout’s response was, essentially, “You already are.” He then proceeded to talk to him about why his confidence was his greatest gift.
“I just love the way he plays,” Trout said later. “A lot of guys with all that hype come up and struggle, and he’s had success right away.”
Rodriguez grew up idolizing Alex Rodriguez and has created a buzz in Seattle that has drawn comparisons to the initial excitement around Ken Griffey Jr., but many, inside and outside the organization, see him as a more boisterous, outgoing version of Trout — the tools he possesses, the joy he exudes, the wonder with which he plays.
“I hate making those comparisons because I think it’s really unfair; they’re two very different people in a lot of ways,” said Hollander, the current Mariners and former Angels executive who has witnessed the entire development path of both Trout and Rodriguez. “But the unshakeable confidence in their own abilities, combined with supernatural gifts that most other people don’t have, and their ability to quickly forget failure and focus on success — those characteristics and those qualities are similar.”
The major difference, however, is their approach to the public sphere. Trout is understated and private; Rodriguez wants the world to know him. He made it a point to learn English because he wanted to communicate with as many fans as possible, insisting on the language in his earliest interviews as a professional. He now shows it off through his YouTube channel, which is already populated with 18 videos.
Among the highlights: taking batting practice with pineapples; driving a rental car through Arizona to surprise unsuspecting Mariners fans with tickets; a breakfast in which he waxes poetic about hot chocolate; and a visit to a shoe store in which he talks about an emerald-green-colored pair of low-top Nikes as if they were sent down from heaven.
Rodriguez has gone out of his way to market “JRod Show,” designing the phrase as a bejeweled pendant on his diamond-encrusted chain and flaunting it on all of his designer bats. He has emblazoned the name on hoodies and T-shirts, one of which was worn by his traveling party during the All-Star Game’s red-carpet ceremony. His marketing team is working diligently to procure the original username on Twitter.
It has become clear to many that Rodriguez doesn’t just want to be great at baseball.
He wants to be a transcendent star.
“That’s my vision,” he said. “A lot of people close to me, they know that.”
But those closest to him will tell you there’s more to it, that his immersion into the limelight is the natural course of an outgoing, overly enthusiastic spirit, not a desire to create a persona for marketing purposes.
Rodriguez recently read the James Clear book “Atomic Habits” and recommended it to his agent, Ulises Cabrera, a Vanderbilt graduate with an MBA who has been speaking English a lot longer than his client. A video series in which Rodriguez teams with one of his financial partners to provide financial literacy to children is in the works. He’s also working to procure an ambulance and a fire truck for Loma de Cabrera, which currently doesn’t have either. It’s why Cabrera believes the label that typically follows a young, flashy, outgoing player like Rodriguez can be wholly incomplete.
“What happens a lot of times is young guys aspire to be big in the game; they aspire to what greatness brings,” Cabrera, an agent for 15 years, said. “Julio is aspiring for greatness for what it does to the team. He wants to be the best player so that it can help his team win. He wants to be the best person so that it can help his community be impacted better. It’s not for the individual benefits and accolades that can potentially come as a result of who he is and what he does.”
IT WAS A day game on July 27 and Rodriguez was having a rough go of it. He had been jammed badly in his first plate appearance, had swung through three sliders out of the strike zone in his second and had produced a weak grounder in his third. As he readied to bat in the bottom of the seventh, with the division-rival Texas Rangers leading by a run, Mariners manager Scott Servais noticed that Rodriguez had switched his black-colored bat for a maple one.
“I had to,” Rodriguez explained. “The other one is sleeping.”
Moments later, Rodriguez turned on a chest-high slider and launched the 416-foot three-run homer that ultimately won the Mariners a game. Rodriguez made it a point to find Servais as he made his way back into the dugout. “I told you it was sleeping,” he said. Servais howled.
“He’s a kid,” Servais said recently. “He’s an absolute kid playing the game.”
What follows, then, might not surprise you: Rodriguez draws a lot of his motivation from anime. As a child, he said, he’d leave school and “literally be running to my house” to watch episodes of Naruto, a popular Japanese manga series. Now Naruto Uzumaki, the young ninja who aspires to become the leader of his village, is depicted on the back of Rodriguez’s signature “44” chain. It reminds him, he said, to “always see the bright side of things” and “never give up.”
Rodriguez maintains a 2.57 win probability added through his first five months in the major leagues, a total surpassed by only 12 position players. His ascension has in many ways mirrored that of his team, which started off slowly before taking off and establishing itself as one of the best in the sport. The Mariners were 10 games below .500 as late as June 19 but have since won 42 of 61 games and find themselves in the thick of a heated wild-card race with three AL East teams. France has been a revelation, Eugenio Suarez has been a godsend and their starting pitching — further bolstered by the midseason addition of Luis Castillo — has been a major strength. But Rodriguez, who has accumulated a team-leading 4.4 Baseball-Reference wins above replacement, has been their catalyst.
The Mariners have been powered by his energy, which has electrified their city. The line at the team store next to T-Mobile Park extended out the front door on the morning of July 16, with fans clamoring for Rodriguez’s newly-released All-Star jersey. They sold out in less than an hour. Three sections near center field are now dedicated exclusively to him, with fans receiving giveaway Rodriguez T-shirts and holding up giant “X” placards in honor of how he crosses his arms after highlight-reel catches. Center field in Seattle has been deemed the “No Fly Zone.” Seattle has waited 20 years for a playoff team, which qualifies as the longest drought in North American professional sports, and just as long for a fresh new face to rally itself around.
A buzz like this hasn’t been experienced there since a certain teenager showed up with a backwards cap and a sweet swing and became a cultural icon of the 1990s.
“I don’t compare,” Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. said during the All-Star Game, noticeably trying to ease some of the pressure that surrounds Rodriguez. “You got to let Julio be Julio. It’s not fair to him to compare him with anybody. I didn’t like it when I got compared to Willie Mays when I was 20 years old and Willie was 25, so let Julio be Julio and enjoy what he’s doing.”
Rodriguez arrived in the Mariners’ clubhouse the way Griffey did — young, cocky and exuberant, though oftentimes, in a sign of how different the world works for the modern player, with a video crew documenting his every move.
Major league clubhouses don’t typically tolerate that type of self-promotion from rookies. Usually, at the very least, there will be a handful of veteran players who will absorb it with a crooked eye, and the Mariners clubhouse was no different. But Rodriguez is now genuinely beloved by teammates. They love him for his play as much as they love him for who he is. He has genuinely won them over, a nod to what many identify as his greatest tool.
“He doesn’t change who he is, regardless of what he’s doing or who he’s around,” Gonzales said. “When you see him smiling on the field, that’s who he is, and that’s who he is every single day. If that was all an act, then yeah, it would rub us the wrong way. But it’s not.
“He’s very genuine. And so I think that it restores a lot of our faith in the game, in the youth, of where baseball’s headed, with guys like him.”
Sports
A 40-year-old throwing 94.5 mph? A .696 batting average!? Spring training numbers we do (and don’t) believe in
Three weeks into spring training, the Athletics and Colorado Rockies have better Cactus League records than the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers. The Toronto Blue Jays, coming off a last-place finish, are atop the Grapefruit League while the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, considered top contenders for a National League pennant, sit near the bottom of the standings. Boston Red Sox journeyman Trayce Thompson leads the majors with six spring home runs.
It’s hard to know what to believe regarding spring training numbers, but every year some spring stats foretell a breakout season or the emergence of an unexpected contender — if you know where to look.
With that in mind, we asked our MLB experts to identify the most fascinating number of the spring so far and break down what it tells us about the regular season.
Jorge Castillo: 9⅔. That’s how many scoreless innings Clay Holmes has thrown over three starts this spring. The converted closer has surrendered two hits, struck out 13 and walked four. On Sunday, he compiled eight strikeouts and three walks in 67 pitches across 3⅔ innings — the most pitches he has thrown in a major league game since 2018.
That was also the last time Holmes started a game before this spring. He made four starts that season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, posting a 7.80 ERA in 15 innings. He became a full-time reliever the following season, was traded to the Yankees during summer 2021 and spent three-plus seasons as the club’s closer, making two All-Star teams in the role. So, it came as a surprise when rumblings surfaced that he could sign in the offseason as a starter entering his age-32 season.
The biggest challenge is obvious: figuring out how to maintain his stuff for longer durations while navigating lineups multiple times. Besides building up his pitch count, the sinker specialist has added a changeup for his return to starting. He threw the pitch seven times Sunday and induced five swing-and-misses. He was throwing 95 to 96 mph late in the outing. It’s just spring training. It’s super early. The sample size is small. But Holmes’ dominance is a promising development for a Mets rotation that will be without Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas to begin the season.
Bradford Doolittle: 110.7 mph, which is the average exit velocity of Kris Bryant‘s first two extra-base hits this spring. Is it right? I don’t know! Does it mean anything? Beats me! What I do know is that Bryant’s career with the Rockies has been painful to witness and with each season, he’s looking increasingly feeble.
Those hits included a homer at 111.8 mph and a double at 109.6. If those numbers are correct, both balls were hit harder than any regular-season exit velocity reading he has recorded since joining Colorado. It’s great to see Bryant air out a swing again that once produced such jaw-dropping power. I hope it translates to a big and healthy season for him.
Alden Gonzalez: 1.444. That’s Corbin Carroll‘s OPS this spring. Before this year, he had played in 47 Cactus League games in his career and had never produced a home run. Through six games in 2025 — a stint briefly interrupted by what was described as a mild case of lower back tightness — he has three.
And though it’s easy to dismiss star players’ spring training stats, keep in mind that Carroll spent four months last season searching for answers before finally working out of a dreadful slump. With that version of Carroll, the Arizona Diamondbacks won 89 games in 2024 — five more than in 2023, when they advanced to the World Series — but still not enough to get into the playoffs.
D-backs officials watched Carroll recover after struggling for the first time, and they believe he’ll be much better for it. A big year is anticipated. If Carroll is unlocked, the D-backs’ offense will be a force. If that happens, and they pair it with what looks like a dominant starting rotation … well, maybe the Dodgers might have something to worry about.
Kiley McDaniel: 518 rpm, which was the average spin rate of Roki Sasaki’s 18 splitters in his debut outing. Those splitters averaged an induced vertical break (IVB) of -4.3 and an average velocity of 85.8 mph. For context, no splitter in the big leagues last year averaged a spin rate that low or had that much sink.
Due to the low spin, there’s an unpredictable knuckleball-like quality to Sasaki’s splitter, with a wide variance of vertical and horizontal movement from pitch to pitch. Some have five inches of glove-side cut, with the velocity and shape of a slider, and some have seven inches or arm-side run, like roughly an average splitter; the vertical break also ranged from +1 to -10. Sasaki threw 10 of 18 splitters for strikes and seven of eight swings against the pitch were misses, with the other swing producing a flyout from Jake Fraley that had an expected batting average of .000.
Sasaki’s splitter averaged over 90 mph and about 1,100 rpm in the World Baseball Classic in 2023. Scouts I spoke with this winter either put a 70- or 80-grade on the pitch (with 80 being the highest on the scouting scale) and now I’m leaning more toward the latter.
Buster Olney: 9-to-1. That’s the ratio of walks-to-strikeouts this spring for 30-year-old outfielder Alex Call, and these are numbers I’ve never seen. Nine walks and one strikeout in his first 27 plate appearances this spring. And he has an OPS of 1.056. We don’t think of plate discipline as a skill that improves significantly over a career, but it seems like that’s what has happened with Call, a third-round pick of the White Sox in 2016. He has bounced around the minor leagues for a while, accumulating 22 walks and 93 strikeouts over 81 games in Double-A in 2019. And in 30 games for the Nationals last year, he had a slash line of .343/.425/.525. He has figured out something.
“He’s always given us good at-bats,” Nationals GM Mike Rizzo wrote in a text. “He’s got a grinder-type approach at the plate that has served him well, and I think that with consistent at-bats, he’s seeing it well. Great guy to have.”
Jeff Passan: .696. The list of single-season spring training batting average leaders over the past half-decade is mostly a who’s who of “Who?” The top three: Max Schrock, Kevin Newman and Christian Encarnacion-Strand. So this is not to suggest that Curtis Mead — he of that otherworldly batting average above — is about to be a world-beater. But Mead gained 20 pounds of muscle and leaned up this winter, and the results have thrust the 24-year-old, once a top prospect, into contention for real at-bats on a Tampa Bay team teeming with talented young position players.
Mead started the spring 10-for-12, went into an 0-for-2 slump, uncorked a 4-for-4 afternoon and has tallied a hit in each of his last two games since. In total, he is 16-for-23. Only two of those hits are for extra bases, but who cares? Mead’s 1.611 OPS ranks sixth among players with at least 20 plate appearances this spring, and if he keeps hitting like this, the Rays will find those ABs one way or another.
Jesse Rogers: .309. It’s what the Chicago Cubs are hitting, 28 points higher than the next-best offense in either Arizona or Florida.
What’s behind the hot spring for so many Chicago hitters? An early start to the regular season, for one. The Cubs and Dodgers face off in Japan on March 18 so everyone is a little ahead of schedule. The team also turned over all its backups from last year’s roster so there’s fierce competition for playing time behind the regulars.
For example, Rule 5 pick Gage Workman is hitting .438 with three home runs while OF Greg Allen is 9-for-16. Meanwhile, young players such as Pete Crow-Armstrong and Miguel Amaya have picked up where they left off last season. Crow-Armstong looks like a star in the making. And the Cubs are doing this with newcomer Kyle Tucker struggling so far. Tucker was 0-for-20 before finally hitting a home run Sunday — yet the Cubs are the lone team hitting .300 this spring. It feels like the floor and ceiling have been raised at the plate for Chicago this year. Just how much remains to be seen.
David Schoenfield: 94.5 mph. That’s what Max Scherzer‘s fastball hit during Saturday’s dominant 10-out start against the Tigers, in which the new Blue Jays starter allowed just one hit and struck out six. His numbers through three spring appearances look like vintage Scherzer: 9 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 14 SO. Scherzer missed time last season after offseason back surgery followed by shoulder and hamstring injuries that limited him to nine starts and 43 innings while his fastball averaged just 92.5 mph.
He’s 40 years old and looks healthy. The Blue Jays’ one-year, $15.5 million deal could be one of the offseason’s biggest bargains.
Last week, we touched on key players who did not enter the transfer portal from each Way-Too-Early Top 25 team. This week, we take a look at the biggest questions that loom for each team that made the list ahead of next season. Will the portal pick-ups for these teams pay off? How will big-name recruits play out in the spotlight? Will offseason changes hold back certain teams?
Here are our writers discuss the biggest spring questions for each team.
Who will earn the starting quarterback position?
Quarterback Will Howard exceeded all expectations when he transferred from Kansas State for his final season. In the College Football Playoff, Howard posted a QBR of 97.2 while completing 75.2% of his passes, as Ohio State won its first national championship in a decade. Freshman Julian Sayin enters the spring as the favorite to replace Howard. Sayin, who transferred to Ohio State from Alabama after coach Nick Saban’s retirement, was a top 10 overall recruit last year. He has the talent — and star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith to throw to — to keep the Ohio State offense rolling. But Sayin will have to fend off another talented passer, true freshman Tavien St. Clair, who was a top 10 overall recruit in this class, to ultimately win the job. — Jake Trotter
Will the new defensive tackles be able to fill the shoes of former players at the position?
For the past two years, Texas has had a luxury at defensive tackle, a rarity in the portal era. In the 2024 NFL draft, Byron Murphy II went No. 16 to the Seattle Seahawks and T’Vondre Sweat was picked No. 38 by the Tennessee Titans while Vernon Broughton (6-foot-4, 305 pounds) and Alfred Collins (6-5, 320 pounds) slid right into their places. But those two are gone, along with four other defensive linemen who departed via the portal. The Longhorns backfilled by adding 6-3, 333-pound Cole Brevard from Purdue, 6-5, 330-pound Travis Shaw from North Carolina and Ohio State transfer Hero Kanu, at 6-5, 305 pounds. They’ve also added one of the nation’s best recruits in Justus Terry, the No. 2 defensive tackle in the 2025 ESPN 300 and No. 8 overall prospect. Texas has veteran edge rushers in breakout star Colin Simmons, Trey Moore and Ethan Burke, but the big D-tackles have made Texas one of the toughest teams to run against, and has allowed linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. to roam free as a playmaker. A restocked middle of the line will keep the Longhorns dangerous up front. — Dave Wilson
How will new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles fare in his first season at Penn State?
Penn State’s defense has had good coordinator transitions under coach James Franklin, most recently from Brent Pry to Manny Diaz to Tom Allen. The switch from Allen to Jim Knowles, whom Penn State swiped from Big Ten rival and reigning national champion Ohio State, is expected to be just as smooth but remains a notable question entering the spring. Knowles showed at Ohio State that he could not only craft strong schemes, but can maximize the talents of elite players. He must do the same for a Penn State defense losing Abdul Carter, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and other standouts such as safety Jaylen Reed. But Penn State returns Dani Dennis-Sutton, linebacker Dominic DeLuca, safety Zakee Wheatley and others. If Knowles can maintain or elevate the defense’s trajectory, Penn State should be a legitimate national title contender. — Adam Rittenberg
Who will start at quarterback for the Fighting Irish?
In each of the past two seasons, Notre Dame has gone into the portal for a veteran QB. So far, the Irish look more than happy to ride with the players they have returning, which makes for a particularly intriguing storyline this spring. Steve Angeli is the veteran, with 80 pass attempts and one start under his belt, but he’s hardly the clear-cut favorite. In fact, the name getting the most buzz is redshirt freshman CJ Carr, who has a world of talent and is seen as the option with the most upside. Then there’s third-year QB Kenny Minchey and true freshman Blake Hebert, who’ll at least get a shot to make an impression. In the past decade, Notre Dame has had a handful of seasons in which multiple QBs had playing time (2015, 2018) but 2022 was the last true spring QB competition without an incumbent on the roster. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was also the only year since 2017 in which the Irish didn’t win 10 games. — David Hale
Can the new Bulldogs’ pass catchers solve their dropped passes issue?
From struggling to run the ball to games with multiple interceptions to failing on third-down conversions, Georgia’s offense had myriad problems in 2024. But no issue received as much attention as dropped passes — the Bulldogs had more than any other team in a Power 4 conference. It put Georgia behind the chains too many times and killed promising drives. The Bulldogs addressed the problem by adding two proven receivers from the transfer portal: USC‘s Zachariah Branch and Texas A&M’s Noah Thomas. Thomas, 6-6 and 210 pounds, gives Georgia a red-zone target. Colbie Young, another big target, is expected to be available after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct on Jan. 29 to resolve a domestic violence case. The Bulldogs also need Dillon Bell to reach his full potential, and Nitro Tuggle and Sacovie White to continue to develop as reliable pass catchers. Freshman C.J. Wiley, a Georgia native, has also turned heads in his first couple of months on campus after enrolling in January. — Mark Schlabach
Can Dante Moore begin to live up to the success of the Ducks’ previous two quarterbacks?
Under Dan Lanning, Oregon has found success in becoming a final stop for transfer quarterbacks and turning them into Heisman contenders. First, it was Bo Nix, then it was Dillon Gabriel; now it’s hoping it can do the same with Moore. But his case is a little different. Moore is younger and has spent only one season at a different program (freshman year at UCLA) while also spending last year under the tutelage of Gabriel and offensive coordinator Will Stein. With Gabriel gone, it’s now Moore’s time to shine. With the Bruins, the former five-star recruit struggled but showed enough flashes to prove his talent could translate to the next level. A year spent watching Gabriel and learning the Ducks’ offense should have done wonders for his development and Stein has been adamant that his offensive philosophy is malleable depending on the kind of quarterback he has. On paper, Moore should have a breakout season, but just how the Ducks utilize and build the unit around him to maximize success remains to be seen. — Paolo Uggetti
How does running back shape up?
Clemson might rank No. 1 in the country in returning offensive production with Cade Klubnik and all of his top receivers coming back, but running back is a key area that needs some answers this spring. Starter Phil Mafah and his 1,115 yards are gone to the NFL. His backup Jay Haynes remains out indefinitely after injuring his knee in the ACC championship game. That leaves Keith Adams Jr — with 30 carries for 122 yards last season — as the most productive running back returning. To address this, Clemson is trying out 6-2, 225-pound receiver Adam Randall at running back this spring after he contributed there in the College Football Playoff loss to Texas. Clemson also has true freshman Gideon Davidson, the player of the year in Virginia who enrolled early and is practicing, and will continue to take a look at Jarvis Green and David Eziomume. — Andrea Adelson
What changes will be made to LSU’s offensive line?
The Tigers are faced with replacing four of their five starters on the offensive line, including tackles Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr., who won’t have to wait long to hear their names called in the NFL draft next month. DJ Chester returns at center, but he’s likely to end up shifting to another position up front, probably guard. In other words, the spring will be a time for LSU to look at a couple of different combinations in what will be a retooled offensive line in 2025. Tyree Adams earned some key experience in the bowl game after stepping in at left tackle when Campbell opted out, and an integral part of the Tigers’ talented transfer portal class were the additions of Northwestern’s Josh Thompson, who can play tackle or guard, and Virginia Tech’s Braelin Moore, who can play guard or center. It’s also a big spring for sophomore tackle Weston Davis, who was a five-star recruit a year ago but played only 20 snaps. He’s probably the favorite to earn the starting right tackle spot. — Chris Low
Where is the depth?
With several key players back from a team that went 11-2 in 2024, BYU finds itself in an enviable spot this spring. It has quarterback Jake Retzlaff coming back with one of the best defenses in the country and a solid group of skill players on offense. The Cougars will head into 2025 with some of their highest expectations in years. The key now is development. If they can elevate some roles or reserve players from last year to be key contributors, then there is every reason to believe this is a team that will compete for a playoff spot. — Kyle Bonagura
Can LaNorris Sellers hit another level and lift the Gamecocks to true SEC and playoff contention?
Sellers earned the nickname “Superman” while he emerged as one of college football’s breakout stars last fall, charging South Carolina to only its sixth nine-win season since 1984 and vaulting the Gamecocks within spitting distance of the 12-team CFP field. He closed his first season as a starter with 3,208 total yards and 25 touchdowns, and Sellers played his best football when the Gamecocks did in 2024, shining across a six-game win streak to close the regular season. South Carolina will look for Sellers to improve his downfield accuracy and cut down on turnovers as a second-year starter. And the next steps in his development might also hinge on the players around him, too, as the Gamecocks work to replace running back Rocket Sanders with a handful of new starters on the offensive line. But if Sellers returns as a more refined version of the player he was in 2024, South Carolina will enter the fall with a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender and a quarterback capable of potentially carrying the program to its first playoff appearance. — Eli Lederman
How can the Cyclones replace Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel?
We’re talking about a pair of receivers that both had at least 80 catches and went for over 1,100 yards last season. They brought in Chase Sowell (East Carolina) and Xavier Townsend (UCF) to help shore up production, but it’s probably unrealistic to expect receiver play to be at the level it was with Higgins and Noel paired up last season. Still, this is a team that has had a winning record in seven of coach Matt Campbell’s eight seasons. He has shown he can turn over a roster and continue to win games. — Bonagura
Who can step up at running back next season?
Alabama finished sixth in the SEC in rushing offense last season, but quarterback Jalen Milroe was easily the most dynamic component of the Crimson Tide’s running game. With Milroe off to the NFL and Justice Haynes transferring to Michigan, one of the priorities will be figuring out the pecking order at running back and identifying at least two or three backs new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb can be comfortable with in returning the position to a more traditional role. Jam Miller is Alabama’s leading returning rusher and perhaps this is his season to break out, but it was tough sledding for him down the stretch a year ago. He averaged just 3.5 yards per carry and didn’t rush for any touchdowns in his final five games. Behind him, there is very little SEC experience. This will be Richard Young‘s third year on campus. He was hampered by injuries last season. Louisiana transfer Dre’lyn Washington is another player to watch, along with 6-foot, 205-pound freshman Akylin Dear, ranked by ESPN as the nation’s No. 2 running back prospect in the 2025 class. — Low
Who will be quarterback Luke Altmyer‘s primary passing targets this fall?
The exciting thing for Illinois is that its roster and coaching staff don’t change dramatically after a season that resulted in 10 wins and a No. 16 AP poll finish. As coach Bret Bielema told me, “The best thing for us is our best players are back.” But one position Illinois must replenish is wide receiver, as All-Big Ten standout Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin both depart after combining for 1,636 receiving yards and 109 receptions in 2024. Illinois returns Hank Beatty and Collin Dixon, who finished third and fourth on the team in receptions last fall, and also added transfers Hudson Clement (West Virginia) and Justin Bowick (Ball State). Illinois’ overall offensive numbers last fall weren’t eye-popping, but Altmyer’s return under coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. could lead to a spike. — Rittenberg
Without Cam Skattebo, where does the offensive production come from?
It’s hard to overstate how important Skattebo was to the Sun Devils during their surprising run to the College Football Playoff. The guy did it all. He ran for over 1,700 yards with another 605 receiving. There isn’t a like-for-like replacement who can make up for his loss. So, this spring, ASU will set out to make up for his departure. Quarterback Sam Leavitt‘s return gives ASU an established winner at quarterback and running back Kyson Brown showed flashes last season that he can be a dangerous player. — Bonagura
Who will be Kevin Jennings primary passing target next season?
Perhaps SMU fans would like a little reassurance on Jennings at quarterback after a disastrous playoff performance (and five turnovers in his final two games), but the Mustangs still have one of the best QBs in the conference, regardless of how 2024 ended. The bigger question is just who Jennings will be distributing the ball to in 2025. Gone are three of his top four wide receivers, his most productive tight end and star tailback Brashard Smith. But that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of talent. Tight end RJ Maryland returns from injury, along with blue-chip recruits Daylon Singleton and Jalen Cooper at receiver, and a handful of last year’s backups — former Texas A&M back LJ Johnson Jr., former Miami wide receiver Romello Brinson — who’ll have a chance to make a bigger impact. It took SMU a few games last season to really find its stride offensively, but identifying the foundation of the upcoming season’s unit needs to be a priority coming out of spring. — Hale
How can the offensive line keep steady following a lot of change?
Kansas State’s consistency is enviable in the topsy-turvy Big 12 and a big part of that has been because of its offensive line. Last season, the Wildcats lost four of their five starters and still gave up the 10th-fewest sacks nationally at one per game, while ranking 11th nationally in rushing offense at 215.5 yards per game. But the Wildcats lost offensive line coach Conor Riley to the Dallas Cowboys, and lost both tackles to graduation and the portal. They added one of the best tackles in the portal, Ohio State’s George Fitzpatrick, along with Brandon Sneh of Wagner and guard Amos Talalele of USC. The Wildcats’ offensive machine doesn’t lack star power with Avery Johnson at QB and Dylan Edwards, who was last seen running for a school bowl record 196 yards and two TDs in a win against Rutgers, in his first game as the featured back. But it’ll need the big guys up front to keep it humming. — Wilson
How can Indiana improve its line-of-scrimmage play?
Quarterback Fernando Mendoza‘s arrival from Cal to replace NFL-bound Kurtis Rourke will generate attention, but the performance change there doesn’t figure to be dramatic one way or the other. Indiana’s line-of-scrimmage play propelled the team to a 10-0 start and a historic 2024 season, but it also showed cracks in losses to Ohio State and Notre Dame. Both the offensive and defensive lines will be replacing key players such as Mike Katic and CJ West, but both groups also return key players, including All-Big Ten defensive lineman Mikail Kamara and left tackle Carter Smith. The offensive line also added notable transfers Pat Coogan, who started for Notre Dame during its CFP run, as well as Zen Michalski (Ohio State) and Kahlil Benson (Colorado). Indiana’s staying power as a good to very good program under coach Curt Cignetti hinges on avoiding line drop-offs. The new-look offensive line, in particular, must come together this spring. — Rittenberg
Can Florida convert its late-season surge into contention among the upper half of the SEC in 2025?
The Gators reshaped the arch of Billy Napier’s third season — and his broader tenure in Gainesville — with four consecutive victories to close 2024, including ranked wins over LSU and Ole Miss. The Gators’ win streak coincided with the emergence of former five-star passer DJ Lagway, who returns in 2025 as one of the nation’s most promising young quarterbacks. Lagway will operate this fall alongside 2024 breakout running back Jadan Baugh and behind an experienced offensive line, while Florida’s talented and young defense is tasked with replacing leading tacklers Shemar James, Trikweze Bridges and Jack Pyburn under the new leadership of co-coordinators Ron Roberts and Vinnie Sunseri. The departures of top pass catchers Chimere Dike and Elijah Badger leave the Gators also searching for new production at wide receiver in 2025. Whether Florida can get similar output from Eugene Wilson III (returning from hip surgery) or freshmen Vernell Brown III, Dallas Wilson and Naeshuan Montgomery, stands as one of the central questions as the Gators attempt to build on last season’s finish as it faces the nation’s second-toughest schedule in 2025, per ESPN’s Bill Connelly. — Lederman
What does Nico Iamaleava and the Vols’ wide receivers need to work on ahead of the fall?
There will be a lot of eyes on Iamaleava at quarterback as he enters his third year on campus, in particular whether he can put up more impressive numbers in the passing game. In Tennessee’s three losses last season, Iamaleava never threw for more than 170 yards and was held without a touchdown pass. In the final two losses of the season to Ohio State and Georgia, he didn’t have a completion longer than 21 yards. But it’s not all on Iamaleava. He’s going to need more help in 2025 from his receivers, and four of his top five pass catchers from last season are gone. Former five-star signee Mike Matthews, after initially entering the transfer portal in the winter, is back and a popular choice to be one of college football’s top breakout players next season. The Vols will need him to be after he caught only seven passes as a freshman. Chris Brazzell II, who transferred last year from Tulane, is the only returning wide receiver on the roster who had more than 100 receiving yards last season. Braylon Staley, now in his second year on campus, will get a big opportunity to move up the depth chart this spring along with Alabama transfer Amari Jefferson and incoming freshmen Radarius Jackson and Travis Smith Jr. — Low
What’s the status of the secondary?
Too often last year, Louisville’s talented defensive backs got burned. This year, the unit will feature a plethora of new faces, with three-quarters of last year’s starters out the door (along with top backups at corner). Louisville went heavy in the portal, identifying what the Cardinals hope are diamonds from lower levels, including Jacksonville State’s Jabari Mack, Florida International‘s JoJo Evans, Louisiana’s Justin Agu and Southern’s Rodney Johnson Jr. Are those additions ready for the step up in class? A spring against an explosive offense led by Miller Moss, Caullin Lacy & Co. ought to be a good first test. — Hale
Will Bryce Underwood be ready to start right away?
Underwood is the most hyped incoming freshman in the country following his high-profile (and high-dollar) commitment flip from LSU to Michigan. The No. 1 overall recruit of the 2024 class, Underwood gives the Wolverines a tantalizing talent at quarterback a year after Michigan cycled through three quarterbacks (Davis Warren, Alex Orji and Jack Tuttle), who posted a combined QBR (48.5) that ranked 15th in the Big Ten. Underwood will have every opportunity to win the starting job. But the Wolverines also added Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene, who has thrown for 8,245 yards and 65 touchdowns in his career, to bridge the gap if Underwood isn’t ready yet. — Trotter
What exactly will Collin Klein’s offense look like?
In his first season in College Station, Klein navigated an offensive line that had struggled previously but improved. Conner Weigman returned from injury, then struggled, was benched and transferred to Houston as Marcel Reed took over at quarterback, and running back Le’Veon Moss was leading the SEC in rushing yards before he sustained a season-ending injury, with Rueben Owens missing all but two games last season. They both return along with Amari Daniels. But Noah Thomas, the Aggies’ leading receiver with 39 catches for 574 yards, departed for Georgia, a blow to a passing attack that ranked 87th last season nationally. The Aggies brought in transfers Kevin “KC” Concepcion (NC State), Micah Hudson (Texas Tech), Mario Craver (Mississippi State) and Jonah Wilson (Houston) for a makeover at the position, and also added tight end transfers Amari Niblack (Texas), Micah Riley (Auburn) and Nate Boerkircher (Nebraska). — Wilson
How will the revamped defense look?
It is no secret the Miami defense let the team down after a stellar season from quarterback Cam Ward. Look no further than the regular-season finale against Syracuse, in which Miami gave up 42 points and lost its chance to play for an ACC championship. Coach Mario Cristobal fired defensive coordinator Lance Guidry and hired Corey Hetherman from Minnesota to lead the defense. The Hurricanes also hit the transfer portal hard to help their beleaguered secondary, adding three highly rated players in Charles Brantley (Michigan State), Zechariah Poyser (Jacksonville State) and Ethan O’Connor (Washington State). The three combined for 12 interceptions last season. Brantley was a three-year starter and will be counted on to lead. Miami also signed Emmanuel Karnley (Arizona) to help add depth. — Adelson
How will Boise State begin to replace Ashton Jeanty‘s production?
There is no easy or simple way to plug and play any one running back to replace Jeanty and the historic season he had last season. Jambres Dubar and Sire Gaines probably will share the load at running back, but the Broncos’ offense might need to rely more on returning quarterback Maddux Madsen. With Jeanty as the focal point of the offense, Madsen game-managed his way through the season well and showed flashes of his potential toward the back end of Boise’s dream season. He finished with over 3,000 passing yards and 23 touchdowns, but now that Jeanty’s gone, it’s likely that Madsen will need to make an even bigger leap and become the offensive leader for the Broncos, whose new offensive coordinator, Matt Miller, was also previously the team’s passing game coordinator. Spring ball will be the first tell on whether Boise starts to shift more to a pass-first offense. — Uggetti
Will Lane Kiffin’s portal pick-ups pay off?
Kiffin has brandished his reputation as college football’s “Portal King,” and his ability to build through the transfer portal will be put to the test again. Ole Miss furnished a 2024 playoff contender with 25 transfers, led by eventual first-team All-SEC defenders Walter Nolen, Princely Umanmielen and Trey Amos. All three are gone, but Ole Miss still holds the foundation of a dominant defensive line between returners Suntarine Perkins and Zxavian Harris. Alongside them, the Rebels turned to the portal again to reinforce their defense, bringing in edge rushers Princewill Umanmielen (Nebraska) and Da’Shawn Womack (LSU), linebacker Jaden Yates (Marshall) and a collection of defensive backs in Antonio Kite (Auburn), Sage Ryan (LSU), Jaylon Braxton (Arkansas) and Kapena Gushiken (Washington State). Wide receivers Harrison Wallace III (Penn State) and De’Zhaun Stribling (Oklahoma State) and tight end Luke Hasz (Arkansas) lead a cast of seven new pass catchers around quarterback Austin Simmons, a redshirt sophomore who is set to fill the shoes of three-year starter Jaxson Dart. Transfer offensive linemen Patrick Kutas (Arkansas) and Delano Townsend (UAB) should both slot into starting roles for Ole Miss, where offseason transfer turnover has become the norm. — Lederman
DENVER — The nerves, Chicago defenseman Artyom Levshunov insisted, were nonexistent ahead of his NHL debut Monday night against Colorado.
Excitement, sure, but no pregame jitters hours before the opening faceoff.
“Why?” the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 draft casually said of nerves. “It’s a hockey game. I’ve got to go and do my job, play hard.”
The 19-year-old from Belarus held up quite well, too. He skated for almost 21 minutes in a 3-0 loss to Nathan MacKinnon and the high-flying Avalanche. The game was scoreless before the last-place Blackhawks faltered in the third period.
“They’re a really good team. They have a lot of good players,” Levshunov before the loss. “I have to play better.”
Attempting to stop Colorado, with all its scoring and speed, can only build confidence.
“That is almost better, getting thrown into the wolves here with (Cale Makar) and Nate just flying at you,” second-year forward Connor Bedard said. “Every team you play has great players, but those two guys are flying. Every night you’re playing against great players so I think there’s going to be challenges every game.”
The 6-foot-2, 208-pound Levshunov missed the start of the season because of a fractured right foot. He was recalled by Chicago on Sunday from Rockford of the American Hockey League, where he had five goals and 17 assists in 50 games.
“Of course, I was dreaming about this all my hockey life,” said Levshunov, who signed an entry-level contract with Chicago in July after spending one season at Michigan State, where he was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. “I was waiting for this a long time.”
Bedard offered a piece of advice: Soak in the moment.
“We’re not putting any pressure on him or anything,” Bedard said. “Just play his game. There’s always learning curves with anyone. We know he’s going to be great, and we’re just excited for him.”
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