In the video, Alex Rodriguez, a former professional baseball player, shares his insights on how to identify pitches from pitchers’ tips.
He learned from three Hall of Famers, Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, and Chipper Jones, that the key is to pay attention to the game throughout the nine innings.
Rodriguez suggests that hitters should focus on the pitcher’s glove, hands and tempo, and the ball itself.
He mentioned that a squeezed glove is often a sign of a fastball, while an open glove might indicate a changeup.
Pitchers tend to be more deliberate when throwing fastballs, while they speed up for breaking balls or changeups.
The most revealing tip, according to Rodriguez, is the amount of white shown on the ball.
A lot of white usually means a fastball, while less white suggests a changeup.
He said the microscope was a fastball sign and the open glove was a changeup sign.
Pitchers tend to be more careful when throwing fastballs, as they tend to go faster when throwing breaking and changing balls.
More whites means a fastball, less whites means a changeup.
He emphasized that these instructions are clear and focused and attention to detail.
A-Rod shares his 3 secrets to tipping pitches 👀
(via @AROD) pic.twitter.com/X626N7aKSC
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) December 26, 2023
Alexander Emmanuel Rodríguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed “A-Rod”, is an American former shortstop and third baseman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners (1994–2000), Texas Rangers (2001–2003) and New York Yankees (2004–2013, 2015–2016).
Rodriguez began his professional baseball career as one of the sport’s greatest hitters and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Rodriguez had a career average of .295, over 600 home runs (696), over 2,000 runs batted in (RBI), over 2,000 runs scored and over 3,000 hits, strikeouts, over 300 stolen bases, the only player in MLB history to do so.
He was a 14-time All-Star, won three American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, ten Silver Slugger Awards and two Gold Slugger Awards. Rodríguez ranks first in wins per shortstop in the modern era (since 1901).
The Mariners selected Rodriguez first overall in the 1993 MLB draft, and he made his major league debut the following year at age 18. In 1996, he was selected as the starting shortstop for the Mariners, winning in major league average and second overall.
The 10-year, $252 million contract he signed was the richest in baseball history at the time. He performed at the highest level for three seasons with Texas, highlighted by his first AL MVP award in 2003, but the team did not make the playoffs during his tenure.
In early 2004, Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees and moved to third base to accommodate Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. He broke his own record for the most lucrative contract in sports by signing a new 10-year, $275 million contract with the Yankees after opting out of his contract after 2007.
Late in his career, he suffered hip and knee injuries, which forced him to consolidate as a striker. He played his last professional baseball game on August 12, 2016. Despite denying in a 2007 interview that he had used performance-enhancing drugs, Rodriguez admitted to using steroids in 2009 and said he used them while playing baseball from 2001 to 2003.
The Rangers were under “a lot of pressure” to do so. While recovering from a hip injury in 2013, Rodriguez spoke about his recovery issues and clashed with team management for allegedly taking performance-enhancing drugs as part of Biogenesis Baseball’s damages.
In August 2013, MLB announced a 211-game suspension for Rodriguez for his involvement in the violation. After an arbitration hearing, the suspension was reduced to 162 games, banning him for the remainder of the 2014 season.
After retiring as a player, Rodriguez became a broadcaster, Fox Sports 1 announcer, Shark Tank member, member of the ABC News chain. In January 2018, ESPN announced that Rodriguez would join Major League Baseball’s Sunday broadcast team.
In January 2017, CNBC announced that Rodriguez would host Back In The Game. Here he helps former players to return to their normal lives. The first episode premiered on the network in March 2018.
Rodriguez encourages the guys to focus on the game and not get stuck in the video room.
Fans reacted as follows:
He was so good as an analyst when he first started, then he started to become a personality instead
— Frisco (@FriscoTX190) December 26, 2023
these are good tips but very hard to implement in a game setting tbh, also a lot of these get fixed with good coaching by the other team
— hunter 🤫 🔻 (@socsportsfan) December 26, 2023
That’s why all pitchers tunnel now and deliver all pitches the same to avoid this. Hard to spot tipping unless your a predictable pitcher just throwing Fastballs
— Jamesdoe (@Jamesdoe916859) December 26, 2023
