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.”

INSIDE PITCH

The Yankees shut out the Reds, 4-0, on Monday, with Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy combining for six and a third innings. “Both of them looked much better,” Joe Girardi said. ... Jorge Posada started at catcher for the first time since last Wednesday after resting a sore muscle in the back of his right shoulder. “I threw yesterday and I threw the day before,” Posada said. “It’s fine. It’s not 100 percent, but it’s all right. I don’t feel it hitting at all.” ... Francisco Cervelli, the minor league catcher who broke his right wrist in a collision at the plate with Tampa Bay’s Elliot Johnson on Saturday, showed up in the clubhouse with a cast from the wrist to his shoulder. Cervelli is expected to miss 8 to 10 weeks. He may learn more about his recovery time when he is examined in New York this week. With Cervelli out, the Yankees signed the veteran Chad Moeller, who had been released by Washington. Moeller has played for five teams in the last seven seasons and will probably be the Yankees’ catcher at Class AAA this season. ... The Yankees are giving an unusual birthday present to the actor Billy Crystal, who turns 60 on Friday. The team announced that it would sign Crystal to a contract Wednesday and allow him to play in Thursday’s exhibition game.

News source：http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/sports/baseball/11yankees.html?_r=1&ref=baseball&oref=slogin