THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: We all want to believe in Julio, but ...

“It’s crazy. I love the guy. I’m excited each time he gets up there. But deep down, I worry ‘til I’m sick about another failure. Dear God, I’ve started seeing a therapist.” 

No surprise. 

That’s an email I received from a regular reader, a diehard Mariners supporter who asked that we not print his name. 

“My neighbors and the people at work already think I’m nuts,” he wrote. “No use making it worse.” 

Surely, you understand his stress and anxiety. 

He wants to believe in Julio Rodriguez. 

Hell, thousands more WANT to believe. 

Millions! 

And yet. 

This bright-eyed 24-year-old with a smile that could light up the entire Northwest — the perfect poster child for the Mariners, for Seattle, for the Dominican Republic, hell, for baseball itself — is likely to swing and miss at strike three. 

Or ground out meekly with a game on the line. 

It’s almost torture. 

There is no question this young man is bursting with talent. 

And personality on top of it, having worked at learning English so he’d be at home with his teammates from the moment he got to the States. 

No question, we’re all waiting for that explosion, the lift-off that carries Seattle to the playoffs. 

To the World Series. 

NOW THAT Cal Raleigh has reinvented the catching position, and routinely hits bombs out of stadiums, cities and states, the Mariners could have the most dramatic duo since Mantle and Maris. 

So, where’s Julio? 

Well, he’s trying. 

On the plus side, he’s the best centerfielder in the American League, and needs only to dispatch Boston’s Ceddanne Rafaela for this year’s Gold Glove. 

Offensively? 

Hmmm. 

This is strictly an amateur’s opinion, but Julio appears to be ditching the look of that free-wheeling kid who crashed into MLB like a force of nature. 

Remember how he stunned the nation in those home run derbies? 

A series of slow starts, however, have bothered him to the point that he’s asked hitting gurus Edgar Martinez and Kevin Seitzer to help him make better contact. 

Never mind tape-measure home runs. 

He wants to put the ball in play. 

And it’s worked, assuming that’s the point of this exercise. 

Perhaps you don’t remember the sluggish early months of his young career, but Julio has had his best first half this season — 10 homers, .257 average and a .732 OPS. 

Somehow, though, it doesn’t feel like he’s adding much to the Mariners’ win-loss record. 

Former manager Scott Servais used to say: “Never mind the batting average or any other numbers. 

“Are you doing damage?” 

That’s the question for Julio Rodriguez, no? 

IT’S YUCK to lean on piles of numbers for any baseball discussion. 

Makes you feel like a glorified bookkeeper. 

Still, there are some figures in this case that make you go: “Whoa!” 

Julio starts with shocking aggressiveness, and says that’s by design. 

So far this year, he’s been swinging at 57% of all pitches, the sixth-highest rate in the majors, and at 71.3% of all first pitches he sees, one of the game’s highest rates. 

Bottom line: A notoriously poor two-strike hitter, he doesn’t want to get behind on counts. 

Fair enough. 

How’s it working out, then? 

Well, Julio’s “plan” hasn’t exactly been kept super-secret like, say, Israeli war strategy. 

Pitchers took about five minutes to sort it out. 

Julio’s last home run came 20 games ago, on May 27 against Washington. 

Since then, the Mariners have played six one-run games, and four more that went into extra innings – duels that cried out for the young hero to provide some fireworks. 

Nope.  

Julio has had 86 at-bats since that homer against the Nats, and even with all those close games, he has just two runs batted in. 

Not surprisingly, Seattle is 8-12 in that span, having now drifted 5 1/2 games behind Houston in the AL West. 

That stretch since Julio’s last long ball is pretty much routine, unfortunately. 

He’s hitting .200 with runners in scoring position this season, and it dips to .182 in that situation with two out. 

Sure, he can turn it around, since he’s been a second-half hitter each season. 

The problem is all those runs and games that have already slipped away.  

If Julio Rodriguez is going to become a true, glistening star, he can’t let that happen.  

Email: [email protected] 

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week, normally Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday unless, you know, stuff happens. 

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”