AquaSox notebook: Larsen named High-A West player of the month

Everett AquaSox outfielder Jack Larsen was announced as the High-A West player of the month on Wednesday.

Larsen leads the six-team league with a .352 batting average, as of Wednesday afternoon. The 26-year-old is one of just three qualified players in the High-A West who are batting at least .300. The other two are AquaSox phenom Julio Rodriguez (.322) and Vancouver’s Spencer Horwitz (.300).

Larsen also leads the High-A West in slugging percentage (.636) and is third in on-base percentage (.426).

Larsen, who was signed by the Seattle Mariners in 2017 as an undrafted free agent out of the University of California-San Diego, has five home runs and 10 doubles in 24 games. He currently is riding an eight-game hitting streak.

Larsen’s production this season is a major uptick from his last minor league season with Advanced-A Modesto in 2019, when he posted a .237 batting average, .335 on-base percentage and .402 slugging percentage.

Rodriguez homers twice in Olympic qualifier

AquaSox outfielder and highly touted prospect Julio Rodriguez homered twice in the Dominican Republic national team’s 13-3 rout of Nicaragua on Wednesday at the Baseball Americas Qualifier in Florida.

Rodriguez finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs in the game, which was part of an eight-team qualifying event for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Rodriguez, ranked by Baseball America as the sport’s No. 3 overall prospect, blasted both home runs well over the left-field fence at Clover Park. The 20-year-old phenom’s second homer was a massive shot that soared over a bourbon bar that’s situated on an elevated platform adjacent to the fence.

🇩🇴 Another Home Run from Julio Rodriguez 💪 💪 💪
🇩🇴 DOM 11 – 3 NCA 🇳🇮 #RoadToTokyo #Tokyo2020@FedobeRD @probeisbolrd pic.twitter.com/WNFF4GyCVG

— WBSC ⚾🥎 (@WBSC) June 2, 2021

Through three games at the qualifier, Rodriguez is 6-for-14 with two homers, three RBIs and five runs scored.

The Dominican Republic is 2-1 at the event, with its lone loss being an 8-6 defeat to the United States on Tuesday.

The Dominican Republic has advanced to the event’s super round, which means it’s one of four remaining countries vying for one automatic bid to the Olympics. The second-place and third-place finishers advance to another qualifying tournament in Mexico, where they will have one final chance to punch their ticket to Tokyo.

The Dominican Republic closes its Baseball Americas Qualifier slate by facing Venezuela on Friday and Canada on Saturday.

AquaSox reliever Brendan McGuigan also is playing in the event as a pitcher for Canada. The 25-year-old right-hander has made two appearances, allowing one run and four hits in 2 2/3 innings pitched. He has struck out three batters and walked one.

Canada also is 2-1 and has advanced to the super round, where it will face the United States on Friday and the Dominican Republic on Saturday.