Alex Rodriguez: Why He is Pressing During the Pursuit of 600 Home Runs
August 3, 2010 · Jess K. Coleman · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Watching Alex Rodriguez swing for his 600th home run has been a frustrating experience. “Strikeout, groundout, popout” seems to appear in the box score every night. As he approaches plate appearance number 50 since home run number 599, it has become more and more evident that A-Rod is pressing.
Here are four of Alex’s five at-bats from yesterday’s game in which he went 0-for-5 (Charts are from BrooksBaseball.net):
Note: try to find something they all have in common.
At-bat #1: groundout
At-bat #2: strikeout
At-bat #3: strikeout
At-bat #5: groundout
If you can’t figure out what they all have in common, I’ll tell you: in every at-bat, A-Rod saw at least one pitch that was near the middle of the plate and belt high. Those are pitches that he usually hits into the seats with ease, but on Monday, he either fouled the pitch off or hit a groundball. Bottom line: he is just missing it, and it is no coincidence that he is missing these perfect pitches while pursing number 600. A-Rod is pressing.
You can e-mail me at jess@jesskcoleman.com or follow me on Twitter @jesskcoleman .
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