Friday, October 30

SEATTLE -- Julio Rodríguez has gone full paparazzi.

By now, most who follow the Mariners have probably seen snapshots of their star center fielder wielding a camcorder during high-profile moments. He practically had it attached to him throughout the World Baseball Classic, and because of that global spotlight, many took notice.

He also had the handheld with him during Ichiro Suzuki’s statue unveiling on Friday at T-Mobile Park to catalog the huge moment for his longtime mentor. But just as noticeably, Rodríguez was congregated toward the back of the ceremony with other media instead of seated alongside Mariners brass to celebrate the franchise icon.

Essentially, he was going all-in on playing the part.

“It’s a fun way to just kind of document what you see, and then keep the videos for yourself,” Rodríguez said. “You never know what you can do with it.”

• Julio finally breaks out: 'I know I put the work in'

From afar, it might look like a bit of a guy having fun, which it certainly is. But more broadly, this has become a full-fledged hobby for the 25-year-old, whose curiosity and passion to learn have been his defining traits when he’s not hitting homers and making glovely plays.

“I kind of started picking it up, slowly but surely,” Rodríguez said. “I picked this up, learning how to DJ a little bit -- not stepping away [from baseball], but like, kind of being more diverse than just watching anime and sometimes playing video games.”

This hobby started over the offseason, when Rodríguez was traveling through Europe -- a continent he’d never visited, which itself speaks to his wonder for his unknown. The winter before, he spent three weeks in Japan, another corner of the world he’d never been to.

But more specifically with his camcording hobby, Rodríguez wanted self-produced content of the massive facility upgrades he oversaw to his childhood baseball field in the Dominican Republic in January. Those efforts included a personal investment of $1.3 million.

“Honestly, I just kind of wanted to document things,” Rodríguez said.

The grand unveiling of those facilities was like nothing his hometown of fewer than 20,000 people had ever seen, sheerly from a celebrity standpoint. Many of Rodríguez's guests were fellow Dominican-born MLB stars such as Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr., who also became his teammates at the Classic two months later.

So naturally, that squad had already seen Rodríguez the filmmaker in action. But he took it to another level at the premier international event, recording batting practice, clubhouse celebrations and media availability, at times flipping interviews on reporters by asking them questions. 

He recorded virtually everything other than the games themselves, because he obviously couldn’t use the camera in the dugout. Memes even surfaced of Rodríguez with his handy handheld. 

“All the guys loved it,” Rodríguez said. “Every time I would bring the camera out, they would always say things in front of it. And whenever I would forget it, like, they would say, 'Whoa, go get it!' So it was a fun time using it.

“And everybody knows that I'm not going to be posting something stupid about somebody.”

The last part revealed another telling component to Rodríguez’s hobby. In the age of smartphones and rapid dissemination, he wanted a device that would make people that he records comfortable. And the effect has been profound. 

Unlike paparazzi in Hollywood that have an invasive reputation, anyone who crosses paths with Rodríguez wielding his new camcorder yearns to be featured.

“It's a completely different vibe,” Rodríguez said, “because I feel like everybody is kind of a little bit afraid of phones right now. Like, there are too many phones, too many people recording and too many people posting things. And I just feel like it kind of brings a whole vibe and a different way of documenting.”

Rodríguez doesn’t edit video -- at least not yet -- but he does regularly go back and watch.

"And it's hilarious,” Rodríguez said. “It definitely makes me feel like I'm back in the place that I was at, so that’s cool.”

The device he used on Friday was Sony 4K Handycam, but Rodríguez also has a few others. He digs the old-school look but with enhanced picture quality. 

“It’s great video, too,” he said. 

For as jovial as he is in the public eye, Rodríguez is actually quite private away from the game. So far, he’s not published any of his camcorder content publicly -- and he probably won’t. He’s living out his dream, and this new hobby is a way to chronicle it, but for himself and his inner circle.

Luke Raley has been one of the Mariners’ better feel-good stories as the season nears its three-week mark, for distancing himself from a brutal 2025 in which he was hurt for virtually the entire season, yet played through the pain. 

“It feels really good,” Raley said. “It was, obviously, a struggle last year. I was fighting it all year long.”

Raley went 7-for-17 with two doubles and one triple during the Mariners’ four-game sweep of the Astros, which raised his slash line for the season to .294/.345/.569 (.914 OPS). 

He’s mostly been in a right-field platoon, but its other half, Victor Robles, has been on the 10-day IL with a right pectoral strain since Wednesday. That could open the door for even more playing time, especially the way he’s producing.

Raley sustained a right oblique strain during batting practice on April 28 last year, then dealt with back spasms not long after he returned, which also necessitated an IL stint. But the pain persisted all the way through the postseason, which impacted his offseason program, too. 

“It's not just making sure things don't hurt,” Raley said. “You lose a little bit of your bat speed, or whatever the case may be, and then your contact point changes. You're basically relearning how to hit a baseball at that point. So, yeah, it just becomes really tough.”

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