Career Profile of New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez

Some people say that he is the greatest player of all time. Others claim that he only produces big statistics but never delivers big results. No matter what people say, none can deny that Alex Rodriguez is on pace to break just about every record in the book.

The First Pick in the Draft

Rodriguez first gained prominence when the Seattle Mariners selected him as the first pick in the first round of the 1993 amateur baseball draft. In his senior season at Miami's Westminster Christian High School, Rodriguez hit .505 with 9 HR, 36 RBI, and 35 steals in only 33 games. Rodriguez was the first high school player to ever try out for Team USA in 1993, and was regarded as the top prospect in the country.

He would turn out to be even better than he first looked.

The Seattle Mariner Years

Rodriguez played briefly with the big league club in 1994, when he was just 18 years old. The 1994 strike cut his season short, however, and the next year Rodriguez split time between the Mariners and their AAA-affiliate. By 1996, A-Rod (as he had become known) was a full time major leaguer. He had a monster year, hitting .358 with 36 HR, 123 RBI and 141 runs scored. Rodriguez finished second in the MVP voting to Juan Gonzalez, but he was well on his way.

Over the next five seasons with Seattle, A-Rod was the biggest emerging star in the game. he even began to eclipse teammate Ken Griffey, Jr. as the consensus best player in the major leagues. In a little more than five full seasons with the Mariners, Rodriguez had a .310 average, 966 career hits, 189 HR and 595 RBI. He did all of this by the time he was 24 years old.

The Big Contract

A-Rod became a free agent after the 2000 season, and soon signed the richest contract in sports history when he inked a 10-year, $252 million deal with the Texas Rangers.

Over the next three years in Texas, Rodriguez became even better. He averaged 52 home runs and 132 RBI a season during his time with the Rangers. He also gained recognition for his superb defense at shortstop, winning the Gold Glove in 2002 and 2003. He also won his first AL MVP award in 2003. But the team didn't win. Despite A-Rod's performance, which was far and away the best in the league during those years, the Rangers finished in dead last all three years.

After the 2003 season, it became clear that Texas was trying to move A-Rod and his huge contract in order to free up dollars for their very promising youth movement. First, the Red Sox bit. But they didn't want to pay the entirety of the contract. So A-Rod and his agent sat down with the Red Sox and Rangers and worked out a renegotiation. Under the plan, the Rangers would pay a portion of the contract and Rodriguez would agree to a cut his salary. The teams agreed to the trade, but the player's union vetoed the trade, saying that they did not want A-Rod to set a precedent for lowering salaries on long-term contracts.

A month later the Yankees worked out a trade that was accepted by the Commissioner and the Player's Association. A-Rod was now a New York Yankee.

The Tumultuous Yankee Years

The first challenege that Rodriguez had to face in New York was learning a new position. See, the Yankees already had a pretty good shortstop. A-Rod shifted over to third base and with the help of New York Yankee legend Graig Nettles, he learned the new position. The 2004 season was a bit of a disappointment for A-Rod. He was very good, just not Alex Rodriguez-level good. He hit .286 with 36 HR and 106 RBI, well short of his career averages.

The 2005 season would be much different. A-Rod played brilliantly all season, posting final numbers that resembled his Seattle/Texas days: a .321 batting average to go along with his 48 HR (most ever by a Yankee right-handed hitter) and 130 RBI. He narrowly beat out David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox for the American League Most Valuable Player Award.

In 2006, however, Rodriguez faced a level of adversity that he had never experienced before. It all began with his play in the field. In May and June, A-Rod made a series of costly erors that wound up losing a number of key games for the Yankees. The fans booed him mercilessly. Soon the jeering spilled over to his plate appearances. Every time he struck out, he was booed by 50,000-plus rabid Yankee fans. The same thing happened whenever he failed to drive home a runner in scoring position. In time, the Yankee fan base, whom many believe to be just a little bit spoiled, seemed to decide that Rodriguez was the sole reason the Yankees hadn't won a World Series in six years.

Many observers see the boos and the criticism as unwarranted. Rodriguez hit .291 with 35 HR and 121 RBI -- a typical Hall of Fame season. Since he came to the Bronx, Rodriguez has been great, if a little bit inconsisent, during the regular season.

Postseason Futilty

The one reasonable gripe that New York Yankee fans have with Rodriguez is his pos-season play. In his last three playoff series with the Yankees, A-Rod has hit .258, .133 and .071. In sixteen games, Rodriguez has just two HR and five RBI, but has struck out fifteen times, often with men on base. Unless and until Alex hits well in a winning October run, Yankee fans will probably always hold a grudge against him.

Alex Rodriguez's Statistics and Career Projections

Yankee fans may be acting just a little bit foolish in their derision of Rodriguez. Because, when it's all said and done, he will likely be judged as one of the five greatest players in baseball history. At just 32 years old, he has a .305 career batting average, 2,224 hits, 500 home runs, and 1,459 RBI. Let's project that out for a second. If A-Rod plays another nine season (or, until he is 40 years old) and averages the 166 Hits, 35 HR and 120 RBI that Yankee fans found so unacceptable last year, he will finish his career with 3,563 hits (5th best ever), 780 Home Runs (1st) and 2,431 RBI (1st). Do those sound like the statistics of a guy you would boo?