Rodríguez was born and raised in Loma de Cabrera, a town of 20,000 people in the Dominican Republic.

[1] While many MLB players are from the Dominican Republic, relatively few are from Loma de Cabrera, which is located near the border with Haiti.

[5] He first caught the attention of scouts when, at only 12 years old, he hit a ball to the outfield wall against a hard-throwing 17-year-old pitcher in a local tournament.

[8][9][10] He made his professional debut with the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Mariners in 2018,[7][11] playing primarily right field and batting .315/.404/.525 with 50 runs, nine triples (tied for the league lead), five home runs, 36 RBI, and 10 stolen bases without being caught in 59 games.

[14][15][16] He was promoted to the Class A-Advanced Modesto Nuts in the California League in August, becoming one of only three 18-year-olds to play in High-A ball in 2019.

[12] In 2020, with the minor league season canceled, Rodríguez was ticketed for the Mariners alternate training site in Tacoma, but he broke his left wrist during a workout in July.

[18] He also began training with former football player Yo Murphy to improve his speed, allowing him to play center field and steal more bases.

[5] On May 1, Rodríguez hit his first career home run, a three-run shot off Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara.

[29] Rodríguez kept up his great performance in July, during a stretch in which the Mariners won 14 consecutive games and jumped into playoff discussions.

On July 15, he hit his first career grand slam to put a game against the Texas Rangers out of reach.

[42][43] Rodríguez led the Mariners to their first postseason appearance since 2001, at the time the longest active playoff drought amongst the four major North American sports leagues.

[45] He was hit by an Alek Manoah pitch to lead off Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, coming around to score the first run of a 4–0 win.

[56] On April 7, 2023, Rodríguez hit a tiebreaking two-run home run in the sixth inning against the Cleveland Guardians.

In August, Rodríguez went on a tear at the plate that matched or surpassed marks not achieved since the early 20th century.

[58] In early September, he became the first player in MLB history to hit 25 home runs and steal 25 bases in his first two seasons.

[59] On September 11, Rodríguez hit his 30th home run of the season, making him the 44th player to join MLB's 30–30 club.

[66][67] Rodríguez missed several weeks in July and August after suffering a high ankle sprain crashing into the center field wall,[68] limiting him to the designated hitter role for nine games after returning from the injured list.

[72][73][74] Rodríguez played for the Dominican Republic national team in the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

[83] He managed just one single and three strikeouts as the Dominican Republic lost an elimination game against Puerto Rico on March 15.

[87][9] In February 2021, then-Mariners president Kevin Mather spoke to a Seattle-area Rotary club and, among his negative comments about Mariners players, said Rodríguez's English was "not tremendous.

[94] The two outfielders became throwing partners in 2020, when Suzuki, also a Rookie of the Year winner, was a Mariners special assistant and more than twice Rodríguez's age.

[6] Fox Sports produced a documentary on Rodríguez, called "Welcome to the J-Rod Show," which first aired on FS1 on July 16, 2024, following the 2024 MLB All-Star Game.

As a rookie, Rodríguez wore a chain featuring title character Naruto Uzumaki on the reverse as a reminder to never give up and "always see the bright side of things.

"[5] Rodríguez began dating Canadian professional soccer player and fellow 2020 Olympic medalist Jordyn Huitema in November 2022.