Mariners' Rodriguez suffers left wrist fracture

The return of baseball to Major League stadiums also means the return of unfortunate baseball injuries.

Mariners No. 2 prospect Julio Rodriguez suffered a hairline fracture of his left wrist during an outfield drill on Wednesday, Seattle announced. Rodriguez is scheduled to undergo more tests, and a time frame for his recovery is still to be determined.

The 19-year-old outfielder was participating in Seattle's Summer Camp workouts at T-Mobile Park as a member of the 60-man player pool and was expected to shift to the club's alternate training site at Triple-A Tacoma once the Major League season gets underway next week. Given his youth and inexperience -- he has only two Minor League seasons under his belt -- he was a longshot to see Major League action during the truncated 60-game season, but his spot on the roster indicated Seattle's desire to keep him nearby and oversee his workouts.

Will be back even better than before 😤thank you all! And be ready for what’s coming 🔝✊🏽

— Julio Rodriguez🇩🇴🦁 (@J_RODshow) July 16, 2020

Even if the club doesn't feature him in the Majors in 2020, the Mariners have high hopes for the player MLB.com ranks as the game's No. 18 overall prospect. A career .322 batter in the Minors, Rodriguez is a gifted overall hitter from the right side, and his power has plus potential as well. He even told the Minor League Baseball podcast "The Show Before the Show" last week that he had spent his time in quarantine bulking up and hoped to show more pop at Summer Camp. Rodriguez has played both center and right field in the Minors but seems more likely to play the latter in the long term, where his plus arm will be a tremendous asset.

The Dominican Republic native hit .326/.390/.540 with 12 homers, four triples and 26 doubles over 84 games between Class A West Virginia and Class A Advanced Modesto last season. He was limited in his first stateside campaign by another hairline fracture in his left wrist after being hit by a pitch on April 12. Rodriguez returned to action from that injury on June 10 and made up some of the lost time in the Arizona Fall League.