Rodriguez Remembers Roots Youngest Mariner Won’t Get Too Big To Have Time For Kids
Alex Rodriguez remembers what it was like to be a kid.
Maybe it’s because he’s still pretty much a kid himself.
In a time when most baseball fans feel like the players have turned against them, it’s nothing for Rodriguez to show up at a neighborhood playground and give some youngster a glove or pair of cleats.
“When I used to come out to spring training as a kid, just making eye contact with a big-leaguer was a big thrill for me,” he said. “So any time you have a chance to give something to kids, they’ll remember that forever.”
He’s only 19, but fans of all ages are keeping an eye on Rodriguez, the nation’s No. 1 pick in the June 1993 draft by the Seattle Mariners.
One of baseball’s hottest prospects, the shortstop made his major-league debut July 8 at Boston. He became the first 18-year-old to play in the majors since Jose Rijo with the New York Yankees in 1984.
Rodriguez also became just the third 18-year-old shortstop to break into the big leagues since 1900, the others being Kansas City’s Tony La Russa in 1963 and Milwaukee’s Robin Yount in 1974.
But where the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Rodriguez will spend this season is anybody’s guess, including that of Seattle manager Lou Piniella.
“We’re going to give Alex a chance here,” Piniella said from his office at the Peoria Sports Complex. “It seems to me that the short spring training has hurt some of the young kids, including Alex, but he has a lot of talent and he’s going to be an outstanding major-league player.
“I’m just not sure this will be his spring.”
Piniella said the Mariners simply have more experienced infielders in Felix Fermin and Luis Sojo, as well as recent free-agent acquisitions in Joey Cora (Chicago White Sox) and Doug Strange (Texas Rangers).
At the same time, Piniella added: “Just because a youngster starts off in Triple-A doesn’t mean he can’t be called up. In our situation, he can drive over from Tacoma, which is only 30 minutes away.”
If that’s the case, Rodriguez says he can handle it.
“I guess it’s not where you start the year, it’s where you finish,” he said. “It’s not life or death. Hey, if I have the year that I’m capable of having, I’ll be up in the big leagues before it’s over.”
Rodriguez, who resides in Miami, played at all four levels of the Mariners’ system last season, hitting a combined .300 (144 of 480) with 21 home runs, 86 RBIs and 23 stolen bases in 131 games.
After batting .265 (9-for-34) in his first 10 games with Seattle, Rodriguez went into a 2-for-20 tailspin his last seven games and was shipped to Class AAA Calgary. The Mariners’ Pacific Coast League farm team nos is Tacoma.
Rodriguez said he was forced to grow up “a little faster than a lot of guys” since coming out of Miami’s Westminster Christian High in 1993 and signing a three-year contract for a reported $1.3 million.
It was a contract Rodriguez maintains he was coerced into signing without having it fully explained to him, prompting him to file a grievance last year through his agent and the Major League Baseball Players Association against the Mariners.
“It took a back seat to the strike,” Rodriguez said of the status of the grievance. “After spring training is over, we’ll probably get back to it. It’s a tough situation. We got into it, and now we’ve got to finish it.”
Meanwhile, the first high school player ever invited to try out for Team USA and play in the U.S. Olympic Festival wonders what it would be like to be in college.
“I’m worrying about the strike, and all my friends are worrying about a biology test or something,” said Rodriguez, who would have been a sophomore this year at the University of Miami.
“I probably was the youngest player on strike, but it’s nice to be here now and have a chance.”
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: THE RODRIGUEZ FILE A look at Mariners shortstop Alex Rodriguez: Age: 19 Size: 6-foot-3, 190 pounds 1994 stats: Batted .204 in 17 games, two RBIs, no home runs