Former New York Yankees superstar third baseman Alex Rodriguez hung up his cleats in 2016. Since then, the slugger has become a full-fledged businessman and the majority owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Lynx, and the Iowa Wolves.
Despite bidding adieu to the sport, no one can take the baseball out of the three-time AL MVP who completed a decorated career with 14 All-Star selections and won the 2009 World Series alongside good friends Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Mariano Rivera, and more.
Alex Rodriguez Shared a Valuable Lesson on Body Control and the Swinging Mechanics
On Wednesday, Rodriguez shared an Instagram post where the ten-time Silver Slugger Award-winning legend gave valuable pointers to aspirational ballplayers on gaining command of their bodies while at the plate and improving their swinging mechanics.
In the video post, A-Rod says, “To control your body. And especially like me, if I’m 6’3″, 230 pounds, I have more body to control. Therefore, my foundation is a lot more important. Because as you’re bigger and have a bigger body, more things can go wrong.”
He added, “One of the mistakes that you’ll see a lot of hitters is when they go and they get ready to hit, this knee goes that way and it starts facing this way and now all of a sudden instead of going this way because anything that goes out has to go that way Anything that curls this way has to curl that way. So, one way to fix that is you move this in a little bit, you put your weight inside, and look, you have no movement.”
He further continued, “Boom. No movement. Versus… When you open, you have to close. And then what happens is, your head moves outside of your knee, and it moves towards the ball. Therefore, if the ball is coming at me and I’m going towards you, it becomes a train collision, and you don’t want that. You want to go away from the ball. Away from the ball. You don’t want to go into the ball.”
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Rodriguez avidly uploads such short instructional videos to provide valuable guidance to future ballplayers. Besides his many business ventures and undying love for the sport, Rodriguez also aims to give back to the community. Over the years, he has made several donations to the Boys and Girls Club of America, which the two-time Gold Glove winner termed his second parent in a recent interview.
In the interview, Rodriguez said, “The Boys and Girls Club has opened every door in my life. If it wasn’t for the Boys and Girls Club, coming from a single parent, my mother had two jobs, we had to move every 18 months, and there was very little stability in my life. And the Boys and Girls Club was my second parent.”
He added, “And the club taught me about resilience and hard work, and it gave me hope. And it’s funny how much the world needs hope today, and there’s no better hope giver in the world than the Boys and Girls Club.”
A-Rod continues to be a role model for the upcoming generation in so many ways that the baseball legend cannot even comprehend himself.