Julio Rodríguez played in his first career game at Fenway Park on Thursday night as the Boston Red Sox hosted the Seattle Mariners in the opener of a four-game series.
Rodríguez, widely considered one of the top prospects in Major League Baseball and a future star, marked the occasion by signing the inside of the Green Monster prior to first pitch.
Only one problem: J-Rod put the wrong date alongside his autograph.
MLB Network pointed out the classic mistake on Twitter after Rodríguez shared an Instagram story showing his signature. The Mariners rookie indicated inside the wall that it was April 19, 2022, when in reality Thursday was May 19, 2022. Just a month off.
Rodríguez, who made his MLB debut earlier this season after earning a big league roster spot during spring training, couldn’t help but chuckle at the mix-up. He also vowed to change the date later.
“I got too excited… (laughing emoji) I will fix it later,” Rodríguez tweeted.
Rodríguez, an outfielder, entered the 2022 campaign as MLB’s No. 2 prospect, per Baseball America, trailing only Adley Rutschman, a catcher in the Baltimore Orioles system. MLB Pipeline ranked Rodríguez at No. 3, behind Rutschman and top-ranked Bobby Witt Jr., a shortstop with the Kansas City Royals.
The future — and present, for that matter — certainly looks bright for Rodríguez, a native of the Dominican Republic who turned 21 in December. But he’ll need to start paying a bit more attention to the calendar, especially if the Mariners soon become fixtures in October thanks to him and their young core.
