[新聞] A-Rod hopes extra work pays off this season

看板A-Rod作者PerryRod (Partridge)時間18年前 (2007/03/18 10:23)推噓4(4推 0噓 1→)

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From: http://tinyurl.com/2o93f3 A-Rod hopes extra work pays off this season Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/17/07 BY PETER ABRAHAM STAFF WRITER Post Comment KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The biggest concession Alex Rodriguez had to make when he agreed to be traded to the Yankees in 2005 was giving up shortstop and moving to third base. But he handled it remarkably well for two seasons, playing at nearly a Gold Glove level. That changed last season as Rodriguez committed 24 errors, one fewer than he had at his first two seasons at third base. Only two third baseman in the game - Chad Tracy of Arizona and Erwin Encarnacion of Cincinnati — committed more errors. So was that a concern for Rodriguez, given his previous level of defense? "It's part of life," he said Friday after the Astros beat the Yankees 4-3. Was he surprised? "It's part of life," Rodriguez said. Is defense something he has worked to improve on this spring? "It's part of life," Rodriguez said. So, apparently, it's part of life. But after being removed from the game in the fifth inning, Rodriguez stopped in the clubhouse only briefly before pulling batting practice pitcher Mitch Seone and clubhouse attendant Skippy Palmer out to a remote practice field behind the center field fence at Osceola County Stadium. For 30 minutes, Seone hit grounders at Rodriguez from close range and he made a series of throws to Palmer at first base and then at second base. Every throw was perfect, chest high and hard. Palmer was rubbing the palm of his hand as he walked back to the clubhouse. The Yankees want to see that efficiency translate to games. Rodriguez is easily the hardest worker on the team, doing extra drills many of his teammates wouldn't even consider. The question often asked is whether he does too much. "He's a great player," said third base coach Larry Bowa, who tutors the infielders. "It's not that he doesn't work at it, because he does. But it's easy on the back field. There's no crowd, there's no runner, there's no pressure. I want to see it in a game." Errors are not always a true indicator of a player's defensive ability. A player with good range will often make more errors because he creates more opportunities for himself. But most of Rodriguez's errors last season were on throws. "It's footwork," said manager Joe Torre, who spent part of his playing career at third base. "I'm sure it's hard for it not to be in his mind. If the first thing you're thinking is to make a good throw, than that's the problem. He's thinking about something that always had come natural to him." Rodriguez should have been charged with an error in the first inning of Friday's game when he let a grounder off the bat of Craig Biggio get by him. His feet, Bowa said, were not moving at the ball. "When you go catch a baseball, you have to go through the baseball. You can't catch it flat-footed," Bowa said. "Once you catch it flat-footed, you have to start up again. Then you have a tendency to look at the runner because he's making up time getting up the line. Whereas if you come through the ball; you're making a nice fluid motion. "With Alex it's all in his feet. His arm never gets to where it's supposed to be. He'll have the same problem this year if he doesn't move his feet." Said Rodriguez: "It has to be natural, no doubt. I'm working on that." Rodriguez shed 12 pounds during the winter. But at 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, he still has a body better suited for first base or the outfield instead of third. "He's a big man and it's hard to be smooth sometimes when you're that big," second baseman Robinson Cano said. "But he's going to get it back. Alex will do what he has to do." -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 203.69.75.117