Early look at Alex Rodriguez: Just what Girardi wanted

TAMPA — If anybody tells you they can accurately predict what type of a year Alex Rodriguez is in for after three days of batting practice against coaches and looking at pitches from live arms, they are full of spit.

Because Rodriguez no longer plays the field and doesn’t surface during defensive drills, his hands and feet can’t be judged. He will be 41 in late July. Each hip has been invaded by a surgeon’s knife. Following four solid months, Rodriguez dropped off in the final eight weeks of last season when the Blue Jays roared by the Yankees to win the AL East.

Yet, when the Yankees’ lineup is posted in the clubhouse on Opening Day against the Astros at Yankee Stadium, the fourth-leading home run hitter in baseball history likely will be in the third spot, between Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira.

That automatically tells you the Yankees are counting on production from the full-time designated hitter. Manager Joe Girardi might not start him in 136 games at DH like a year ago, but Rodriguez’s muscle is vital to a lineup that likely will be asked to cover up the sins of a rotation loaded with questions.

To an eye trained and paid to evaluate every twitch coming from all 69 players walking the grounds of George M. Steinbrenner Field, Rodriguez is ahead of where he was last February, when he returned from a one-year suspension for swimming in the Biogenesis sewer.

“I think he is a little further along at this point than he was last year,’’ Girardi said following Saturday’s workout. “He has a better understanding of what it takes to be a DH and what he needs to do.’’

In last year’s camp, Rodriguez was a regular participant at third base and in the defensive drills and took some ground balls at first base. This year Rodriguez isn’t present on the two diamonds the Yankees use for those same drills. When the infielders are done they move to batting practice. That’s when Rodriguez surfaces from the first base dugout on the main field.

He was spotted wearing a fielder’s glove briefly Thursday, the first day of full-squad workouts. But since then the only thing in Rodriguez’s hand has been a bat.

Girardi said he believes Rodriguez, who was 39 last spring, was affected by being asked to do more than hit. As it turned out, that work was in vain because of the 151 games Rodriguez appeared in, 136 were starts as the DH.

“We were trying to run him out to the field and there were things that we were doing last year and I think he got sore a little bit at times like any normal infielder would,’’ Girardi said. “But he doesn’t have to deal with it this year.

What Rodriguez does have to deal with is expectations after being gone for the entire 2014 season and returning to hit .250 with 33 homers, 86 RBIs and an OPS of .842 in 2015 that very few saw coming.

But that’s for April. February still has life and March awaits. Nobody knows what the six-month season will bring from Rodriguez, but the guy who gets paid to analyze believes the DH looks fine physically and ahead of where he was a year ago.

How Yankees' Alex Rodriguez already opened Joe Girardi's eyes

Just fours days into position player workouts and Yankees manager Joe Girardi already likes what he sees from Alex Rodriguez.

And, actually, Girardi said he believes Rodriguez looks better than he did this time last year. 

"He's probably a little bit further along this point than he was last year," Girardi told reporters Saturday at George M. Steinbrenner Field. "But I think he has a better understanding of what it took and what it takes and what he needs to be able to do."

Last season, nobody in the organization would admit to having expectations for A-Rod.

Rodriguez hadn't played in a year, thanks to an unprecedented performance-enhancing drug suspension.

He was also not far from turning 40 years old and he has two surgically repaired hips.

But it all worked out, and then some. As the Yankees' full-time designated hitter for the first time in his career, Rodriguez helped carry the lineup through the first half and through July. But he got exhausted in August and played poorly in September, leading to a rough end. Still, Rodriguez clobbered 33 homers, drove in 86 runs and hit .250 — way better statistics than many projected.

Now, Girardi said, he looks even better. One of the reasons, the manager said, is because Rodriguez knows what he has to do to stay fresh in his new role as DH.

"We were trying and running him out to the field last year," Girardi said, "and there were things that we were doing — I think he got a little bit sore at times. Just like any normal infielder would. But he doesn't have to deal with that this year."

Rodriguez's batting practice sessions have drawn the most attention out of anybody's in camp. Not just for fans, either. Coaches and front office members have lined the team's batting cage to watch the 40-year-old's swing.

"He's ready to go," Girardi said. "He looks healthy. He's strong."