Alex Rodriguez has been locked in at the plate. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
DETROIT — Alex Rodriguez’s hot start earned him a promotion on Monday. Rodriguez was moved to the No. 3 spot in the order while slumping Carlos Beltran was dropped to fifth.
“Alex has been getting on base and doing everything that you want, so I just flip-flopped them for now,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Alex is swinging great. Just watching his at-bats, he’s taking his walks, he’s being patient and doing a lot of things right.”
Rodriguez, who has batted anywhere from No. 2 to No. 8 in the order this season, has been one of baseball’s biggest surprises in the early weeks. He has been the team’s best hitter, leading them in runs scored (10) and RBIs (11).
He’s tied for the team lead in homers with Mark Teixeira after going 0-for-4 on Monday. He remained two games shy of tying Willie Mays for fourth place on the all-time homers list.
The 39-year-old designated hitter has 658 homers for his career. He’s also approaching Babe Ruth for fourth place on the all-time RBI list. Ruth finished his career with 1,992, while Rodriguez has 1,980.
Rodriguez’s hot start is remarkable, given that he missed all of last season because of his PED suspension.
“You look at the run production we’ve gotten from him, a lot of our wins are directly a result of what he’s done in certain games,” Girardi said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect in spring training but Alex is a worker and he knows how to play the game. He’s been a very smart player for a long time, so if there was anyone who could figure it out quickly, it would be Alex.”
Girardi hasn’t noticed pitchers approaching Rodriguez differently from any other point in his career. What the manager does see is a veteran player who used the long layoff to allow his body to heal up and to reenergize mentally for the last stages of his career.
“He’s having a blast,” Girardi said. “He loves to compete, he loves the game and he loves to sit around and talk about it.”
