Julio Rodriguez grew up in Loma de Cabrera, a small Dominican town of roughly 20,000 located near the Haitian border. Before him, the only prominent baseball player from there was Rafael Furcal, an All-Star shortstop through the 2000s.
Rodriguez looked up to Furcal as a kid. He remembers the parade that the city organized for him and all the fanfare that came with it. Now Rodriguez will get one of his own. When the Seattle Mariners' dynamic young center fielder returns home this offseason, a parade will take place in his honor. It will be a holiday in his hometown.