Professional athletes don’t get to the top level of their sport without a bit of a vengeful streak. They remember the slights against them.
It’s almost a sure thing that when Mariners first baseman Rowdy Tellez stepped to the plate in Toronto on Friday night, he knew exactly the significance of the man on the mound in front of him, Bowden Francis.
In 2021, the Blue Jays traded Tellez to the Milwaukee Brewers for Francis and another pitcher, Trevor Richards.
Tellez dug in against Francis in the first inning Friday and didn’t waste much time.
The bulky, left-handed slugger unloaded on a Francis offering and ripped a frozen rope beyond the right-field fence.
Rowdy Tellez and Bowden Francis were traded for each other back in 2021.
Tellez just homered off Francis 👀 pic.twitter.com/UjJEBIKFg6
— MLB (@MLB) April 18, 2025
Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
That had to feel good.
The ball left Tellez’s bat at 113 miles per hour, an absolute rocket.
Tellez was a great Blue Jays story to begin with, a 30th-round pick in 2013 out of high school that got to the bigs by the time he was 23 and spent four years with Toronto. He hit 37 homers for the Blue Jays.
Tellez has since been with the Brewers, Pirates and now Mariners.
At 30 years old, Tellez has hit a pair of homers so far this season for Seattle.
None will likely feel sweeter than the one he hit Friday night back at his old ballpark against a transactional nemesis.
MORE MLB NEWS:
