Alex Rodriguez and the Yankee Offense

We're about two-thirds of the way through the first month of the season, and Alex Rodriguez is off to a historic start. Below are his numbers through eighteen games (with the next best player, or league leader in parentheses)

AVG: .400 (.400 - Joe Mauer, Matt Holliday)
HR: 14 (7 - Ian Kinsler, Jimmy Rollins)
RBI: 34 (22 - Jeff Francouer)
OBP: .453 (.553 - Jim Thome)
SLG: 1.053 (.804 - Barry Bonds)
OPS: 1.507 (1.270 - Barry Bonds)
R: 26 (21 - Jose Reyes)

He's already tied the Major League record for home runs in April (Albert Pujols, 14) in April and is one RBI behind the April record for RBIs (35). Many analysts will try and tell you that A-Rod's off to such a good start because he's "seeing the ball better" than he had in the past. That's a bunch of crap.

He's seeing the same ball as he has every year in his career. The difference this year is, he's collapsed his strike zone and isn't watching strikes go by. As you may remember about A-Rod last year, when a pitcher made a mistake, Rodriguez would get overanxious to produce and pop those mistakes up, instead of driving them over the wall. This year, as evidenced fourteen times, he's driving them. And to all fields. Alex Rodriguez has traditionally been an excellent opposite field power hitter. Few, but not many of his home runs last year were to right-center and right field. This year, in addition to his black-seat blasts, he's shown the ability to hit the ball where it's pitched.

Another part of A-Rod's game that has vastly improved is his late-game performance. In 2006, Alex Rodriguez had 8 ninth-inning RBIs. This year, he has driven in 9 runs in the ninth inning through these 18 games.

But let's not focus solely on A-Rod. Another player that has been extremely impressive is Jason Giambi. Claiming that he's turn full-time DH to help the team, even though he didn't think he could produce in such a role, he's hit four home runs (14th in baseball) and driven in 17 runs (5th in baseball) all while hitting .310. Giambi hasn't hit over .300 since 2002, his first season with the Yankees. But if he can continue using left field occasionally, there's no reason he can't continue having multi-hit games. His patience is a part of the reason he's hitting well. Last year, he saw 4.37 pitches per plate appearance (#P/PA) and is seeing 4.33 #P/PA this year. 2006 was his career high, and so far in 2007 is second only to 2006. He hasn't walked at the same rate this year (.388 OBP) as in previous years, but the lineup around him helps. He'll get his 100 walks, 35 homers and 100 RBIs and hopefully continue with the high average.

Bobby Abreu has enjoyed shedding the "power-hitter" tag. He's hitting .306 with a .404 OBP this year. Of his 22 hits, only three have gone for extra bases (2 doubles, 1 home run). But he's the perfect hitter after Damon and Jeter and before Rodriguez. Abreu walks, a lot. He's walked thirteen times in eighteen games. He, like Giambi is seeing over for pitches a game. By doing that, it enables Alex Rodriguez, standing on deck, to get a sense of what kind of stuff the pitcher has that night.

Derek Jeter for a change, is off to a fine start. Typically a slow starter through eighteen games, Jeter is hitting .316 with a home run and six RBIs. One thing noticeably different in his number this year is in the strikeout column. After averaging 114 strikeouts from 2005-2006, Jeter is on pace to strikeout just 71 times in 2007. He's putting the ball in play and continuing to put up impressive averages. And wouldn't you have guessed, his one home run was off Dasiuke Matsuzaka, leading off the inning following Boston's four consecutive home runs. Classic Jeter.

Talking about the pitching now would make me too depressed, I'll address it later.