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| That Arod is so hot right now! |
Well, the Yankees were shutout last night at Yankee stadium and nearly no-hit by Philip Humber.
Both Cano & Martin who were both on hitting streaks, couldn’t squeak a hit off Humber. It was not until the 7th inning when Alex Rodriguez finally broke up the no-no with a line drive single. Arod has now reached base safely in all 16 games he has played this year. Last night’s hit by Arod shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who has been watching Arod lately. He continues to be that Superstar the Yankees signed him to be.
Both Cano & Martin who were both on hitting streaks, couldn’t squeak a hit off Humber. It was not until the 7th inning when Alex Rodriguez finally broke up the no-no with a line drive single. Arod has now reached base safely in all 16 games he has played this year. Last night’s hit by Arod shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who has been watching Arod lately. He continues to be that Superstar the Yankees signed him to be.
This winter was the first year since 2007 that Arod has been fully healthy throughout the offseason. Over the past few years, he has been dealing with a hip issue that took time and effort to heal. In the winter these past couple years, Arod has been going through physical therapy/rehab for this hip problem. The rehab disrupted his offseason routine, but this year he was physically healthy and able to concentrate solely on baseball training. Specifically, Arod has been working in the batting cages on his swing.
The results of his participation in offseason training have not gone unnoticed as Rodriguez is on fire. It began in Spring Training when he hit .388 in the Grapefruit league with 6 home runs. In this first month of the regular season, he is batting .346 (7th highest AL) with a .478 on base percentage and a .750 slugging percentage. It’s amazing that he reaches base nearly half the times he gets an at bat! His slugging percentage is second hightest in the American League, only surpassed by Jose Bautista with .788%! His slugging percentage this April is higher than any other years average, which includes his steroid years of 2005 (.610 %) and 2007 (.645 %).
Although we are looking at a rather small sample size, Arod is “Locked In” and hitting the ball better than I can remember seeing him in the past. In fact, his career batting average is only .303, with a .388 on base percentage and .572 slugging percentage. Arod is not necessarily known for his batting average, and has only hit .300 in half of his 18 seasons in the MLB. His highest batting average for any season was .358 in ‘96 with Seattle and he is right there again this year except now it’s 15 years later! This is due to his quickness that developed this past offseason and has improved his timing of fastballs which creates more contact and more hits.
Over the past 52 at bats, Arod has 18 hits & 14 walks, with 5 home runs. His last homerun was a Grand Slam Saturday night in Baltimore off Josh Rupe. He now has 22 career grand slams which leaves him in second place to Lou Gehrig with 23. During Saturday’s game at the Orioles, Arod had 6 RBI’s as well. Those RBI’s pushed him to 10th place on the all-time RBI list with 1,847. He is now 3rd in the AL with 17 RBI’s.
Last April, Alex’s numbers were quite different as it took him longer to heat up. This would most likely be attributed to less time practicing in the cages. In April of 2010, Arod had a .250 batting average, with a .337 on base percentage and .440 slugging percentage, with only 2 homers. These numbers are not terrible but you can see this year is something special.
One item that I did notice was unusual was his splits this year. He clearly is seeing the ball better against righties for whatever reason. Normally a righty batter would have better numbers against lefties but not Arod.
· Against Lefties: .231 BA, 0 Home Runs, 1 RBI
· Against Righties: .385 BA, 5 Home Runs, 16 RBI’s
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| It's just such a funny pic that I couldn't help myself |
BATTING AVERAGE
· Career Batting Average: .303
· 2011 Batting Average: .346 – 7th in AL
· 2010 April: .303
· Career High Batting Average: .350, 1996 Seattle Mariners
SLUGGING
· Career Slugging: .572 %
· 2011 Slugging: .750% - 2nd in AL
· 2010 April Slugging: .440%
· Career High Slugging: .645 %, 2007 NY Yankees
RBI’s
· 2011 RBI’s: 17 – 3rd in AL
· 2010 April RBI’s: 14
· Career RBI’s: 1,848 - 10th All Time Leader
· Season High RBI’s: 156 – 2007 NY Yankees
· Season Low RBI’s: 84 – 1997 Seattle Mariners
SIDE NOTES:
The Yankees have not been shut out at home since August 20 of 2010 against the Seattle Mariners.
The Yankees are 18-4 over the last three years in games immediately following shutout losses.
Ivan Nova and Gavin Floyd pitched head to head last season on August 29th. Nova got his first win that night when the Yankees won 2-1.
The Yankees are the ONLY MLB Team who have not lost 2 games in a row this year.
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