Alex Rodriguez arrived at spring training early this year after serving his 162-game suspension and missing the entire 2014 season. The results have paid off thus far.
The 39-year-old slugger hit a home run during the fourth inning of Wednesday's spring training game against the Boston Red Sox. Rodriguez served up a Brandon Workman fastball over the left field wall to record his first dinger since September of 2013.
"Some of the guys were saying it looked like I didn't even swing," he told Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com. "That's always a good sign for me. It looked like a little pepper swing and the ball jumped pretty good."
"Alex is Alex," hitting coach Jeff Pentland said via Dan Martin of the New York Post. "He has a presence, that aura that great ones do. Even though he's getting up there in age, there have been a few players who've turned it on at a late age ... His confidence level is high. I don't think he's looking at this as anything but another year."
Despite the milestone for Rodriguez, the Yankees lost to the Red Sox by the score of 10-6.
Rodriguez is batting .455/.538/.818 in five games this spring with a double, a home run, two RBIs and two walks. He's expected to get most of his time at the designated hitter position in 2015, but he has seen some third base action during the spring, likely as a precautionary measure in case anything happens to Chase Headley. He's also been trying out first base since the health of Mark Teixeira has proven to be unreliable in recent years.
A-Rod is only six home runs shy of Willie Mays' mark of 660, which is fourth on the all-time list. Check out his blast from today in the video below.
The Yankees will open the 2015 season at home against the Toronto Blue Jays on Apr. 6.
