SEATTLE — His teal hood pulled up and over his head, Julio Rodríguez stood in the back corner of the crowd Friday and filmed Ichiro’s statue unveiling on his Sony 4K Handycam. The Mariners’ All-Star center fielder purchased the camcorder this offseason, at the recommendation of a friend, and has been experimenting with it as a new hobby. Gives him something else to do in his downtime, he said, ...

The Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodríguez reacts after striking out during the first inning against the New York Yankees at T-Mobile Park on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Seattle.

Steph Chambers/Getty Images North America/TNS

SEATTLE — His teal hood pulled up and over his head, Julio Rodríguez stood in the back corner of the crowd Friday and filmed Ichiro’s statue unveiling on his Sony 4K Handycam.

The Mariners’ All-Star center fielder purchased the camcorder this offseason, at the recommendation of a friend, and has been experimenting with it as a new hobby. Gives him something else to do in his downtime, he said, besides watching anime and playing video games.

He used the camcorder in January to document the star-studded gathering in his hometown of Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic, where he made a significant investment to upgrade the facility where he grew up playing baseball.

He then carried it throughout the World Baseball Classic, capturing behind-the-scenes moments with his Dominican teammates. In this digital age, he’s found the old-fashioned nature of the camcorder puts those around him at ease.

“Everybody’s a little afraid of phones right now,” he said. “There’s too many phones, too many people recording, too many people posting things (on social media). And I just feel like this brings a whole vibe and a different way of documenting stories.”

Rodríguez enjoyed documenting Ichiro’s ceremony on Friday, broken bat mishap and all. He’s enjoyed, too, his friendship with the Hall of Fame hit king, who embraced the young center fielder years ago, before Rodríguez broke through as the face of the Mariners organization.

“We’ve definitely developed a really cool relationship,” Rodríguez said. “He’s a legend. Being part of his life now and us sharing a lot of moments — playing catch, talking about baseball or about life — I feel like it’s really cool.”

They still regularly play catch in the outfield grass during afternoon workouts, and Ichiro remains a sounding board for Rodríguez, in good times and bad.

“I just feel like when you’re thrown a lot of things, it’s easy to pay attention to (all) that,” Rodríguez said, relaying the theme of Ichiro’s guidance. “But, like, if you stay focused, in the long run of things I feel like you’re always gonna find a way to navigate through all that.”

At 25, Rodríguez is already in his fifth season with the Mariners. His early season struggles have been well-documented throughout his career, and that trend has continued through the first two weeks of this season.

Entering the weekend, he had a .148/.246/.148 slash line with eight hits — all singles — in his first 61 plate appearances. His .394 OPS ranks 186th out of 191 qualified MLB hitters so far. (The Mariners’ Josh Naylor is dead last with a .308 OPS through Friday.)

Rodríguez has a career OPS of .624 in March/April across 528 plate appearances. He entered the season with an overall OPS of .800 in his first four seasons.

He’s always found a way, eventually, through the early struggles. He remains steadfast that that’ll happen again, remains upbeat and positive coming to the park every day.

“That’s how I am, though,” he said. “That’s how I learned to play the game. Just do the best I can. Control what you can control. Prepare every day. Put my body, my mind in the best position that I can. The results eventually will show. And I feel like that’s something that (would) describe my career so far, and that’s kind of how I want to continue to do it.

“I know I prepare myself. I know I put the work in. I know I’m not cutting corners anywhere. That’s why I’m always, like, so confident that things are gonna show — things are gonna show no matter what.”

It’s been a slog for much of the Mariners lineup. The M’s ranked last in the majors in most offensive categories coming into this weekend’s series against the Astros.

“As a group, we feel like we’ve been here before. There’s nobody, like, trying to overdo it,” Rodríguez said Friday afternoon, a few hours before the Mariners scored a season high in runs to beat the Astros, 9-6, and snap a five-game losing skid.

“We can’t get into the playoffs with 13 games played. That’s the perspective we always want to remember,” he added. “We’re not gonna win 162 games, either. Or 150 games or something like that. It’s how you navigate the ups and downs; it’s how you brush off a tough road trip and continue to be in the present moment.”

In and out of the clubhouse, expectations for the Mariners have never been higher. Rodríguez can feel those, of course, and he can’t escape the rash reactions from a fanbase that craves a consistent winner.

“I’ve seen so many things online, man. People just talk so much,” he said. “It’s hilarious. The funniest thing I saw, honestly, was about the bat speed: ‘Oh, the Mariners are swinging slower.’ It’s like, we’re not trying to swing slower; it’s just cold as (expletive) in Seattle.”

He’s mostly able to laugh off the outside noise.

“It’s hilarious just to see so many people just trying to find answers, trying to talk about something,” he said. “It’s like, guys, I wish you knew how this actually goes. For the people that actually watch all 162 games, you know you’re going to win some, you’re going to lose some. But eventually the results will be there. The best teams are going to be playing in the playoffs. That’s how things just happen. …

“We’re going to be good to each other, work for each other. At the end of the day, we’re going to be ready to fight.”