NEW YORK — Anyone who has spent any time talking to Alex Rodriguez about baseball knows this much: The guy really knows his game.
Unlike a lot of major league ballplayers, including some whose names would surprise you, A-Rod is a student of baseball. He knows the strengths, weaknesses and tendencies of just about every player in the league, even rookies, and is among the best at breaking down what happens over the course of a game.
So it was hardly surprising when new Yankees hitting coach Alan Cockrell, asked what he had learned about A-Rod in his first season working with him as the Yankees’ assistant hitting coach in 2015, began his answer by mentioning Rodriguez’s baseball intelligence.
“He’s the smartest baseball player I’ve ever been around, in every aspect,” said Cockrell, who was promoted to replace Jeff Pentland, the hitting coach last year whose contract was not renewed. “He knows his swing mechanically and he knows his approach. Just the way he breaks down pitchers and determines what his approach should be, the smartest guy I’ve ever been around.”
Cockrell said Rodriguez has the rare quality of being able to identify a needed adjustment by watching himself on videotape, and then implement in a game the same day. “Not many players can do that,” he said.
After sitting out all of 2014 serving a suspension for performance-enhancing drug use, Rodriguez returned to hit 33 home runs and drive in 86 runs for the Yankees in 2015 despite turning 40 at midseason. Cockrell said he would not rule out a similar performance from A-Rod in 2016.
“What the future holds, I really don’t know, but I do know Alex well enough to know that he’s a professional to the nth degree and he will prepare himself to come in here next year and be ready to go,” Cockrell said. “I would be surprised if he doesn’t come back and have another great year.”
