[新聞] From Start, Rodriguez Worked to Be t …
From: http://tinyurl.com/2tv48d
From Start, Rodriguez Worked to Be the Best
By TYLER KEPNER
Published: March 11, 2008
TAMPA, Fla. — Bobby Meacham was a shortstop who had been a first-round
draft choice, so he kept an eye out for players of the same pedigree. One
such player crossed his path in Zebulon, N.C., in 1994.
Meacham was the manager of the Carolina Mudcats, and he told his wife that
when the Jacksonville Suns came to town, he would pay close attention to
their teenage phenom. It was Alex Rodriguez, who was just passing through
Class AA ball on his quick ascent to stardom. For three days, Meacham watched
his every move.
“I said, ‘This guy goes about his business not like he wants to get to the
big leagues, but like he wants to be the best,’ ” Meacham said.
“He knows he’s going to be good, but he wants to be great. There was just
a method to it.”
In fielding practice, Meacham remembered, Rodriguez would ask for grounders
to his right and to his left, and he would ask for fielders at second for a
double play and at first for throws across the diamond. In batting practice,
he would focus on specific disciplines — grounders the other way, liners to
the gaps, and so on.
“At 18 or 19 years old, he already had a plan,” Meacham said. “It was
pretty awesome to watch.”
As the Yankees’ new third-base coach, Meacham is the one hitting grounders
to Rodriguez now. Fourteen years later, nothing has changed. Rodriguez, who
returned to third base Monday against Cincinnati after resting a sore muscle
for five days, prepares with a single-minded intensity that new teammates
watch closely.
Rodriguez is one of those rare players who capture the imagination of peers.
They envy his paycheck, marvel at his skills, or shake their heads at the
soap operas he creates. When they become a teammate, they notice the
preparation first, and the mental game behind it.
“Having a conversation with him about hitting, you can see he thinks about
the game a lot,” said the veteran Jason Lane, a nonroster outfielder.
When Lane asked Rodriguez about his approach to hitting, Rodriguez mentioned
three touchstones he tries to remember: stay above the ball; keep good
posture in the batter’s box; and do not swing too hard.
By staying above the ball, Lane explained, Rodriguez was referring to
batting practice. If you swing under the ball and hit lazy flies, the theory
goes, you will swing and miss in the game, when the pitches are harder.
When Rodriguez gives instruction, of course, he is coming from the
perspective of a supremely talented player. The Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson
once had a succinct explanation for why Rodriguez enjoys working: “A lot of
things are fun when you’re great.”
Fellow players recognize the talent gap between themselves and Rodriguez, a
three-time most valuable player with 518 career home runs. But parts of his
example can resonate.
“It’s very hard to try and emulate what he does,” said Cody Ransom, a
nonroster infielder. “When I was with San Francisco, Barry Bonds was similar
to that, because they’re just different. There’s not a lot of people like
that, so to try to do what they do — the way they do it — is probably not a
good way to go about it.
“But then you watch their swings and the way they do things, and they do a
lot of things right, obviously. There are certain things you can still pick
up.”
Yet some things simply cannot be taught. Ransom mentioned Rodriguez’s
uncanny ability to keep up his energy level, a feat not lost on Morgan
Ensberg, the former Houston Astros slugger competing for an infield job.
During shuttle runs in practice, Ensberg said, Rodriguez gradually increased
his pace and then blasted away from the pack. That would be impressive
enough, but Ensberg noticed one startling detail: Rodriguez was not exactly
huffing and puffing.
“He was chewing and spitting out sunflower seeds the whole time,” Ensberg
said. “It’s like he didn’t even need the oxygen.”
Rodriguez is hitting .500 this spring after going 2 for 3 on Monday, but he
did look mortal on a throwing error in the first inning. The muscle injury
was not blame.
“I thought he peeked at the runner,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “That’s
the human part of Alex.”
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