In Case You Were Wondering, A-Rod as Locked In as Ever This October

In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.

Rest easy Yankee fans. It appears that you finally have the real Alex Rodriguez at just the right time. Sure, it's easy to say it's early, A-Rod still has much to prove and has many demons to overcome, but this is not just about results. Looking at him simply from a mechanical and approach standpoint, Rodriguez looks absolutely locked in.

Many sluggers like Rodriguez can overcome a poor approach at times and get by on pure ability, and to an extent the same goes for him. But, when you are looking for the super-human results that Yankee fans expect, look no further than his comfort level with his mechanics at the plate.

Unlike most hitters, Rodriguez has the luxury of being able to battle his mechanics and fight through adjustments, while still putting up good numbers. Tthe difference between the locked in A-Rod and the merely human A-Rod is very large, though. Essentially, it comes down to the quality of his at-bats. When he's right, as he clearly is right now, you see a hitter at ease with taking pitches early in the count. He is not afraid to get behind in the count and fight off tough pitches until he gets a pitch to drive. This is a player that, when he's on top of his game, can still drive the ball over 400 feet on a two-strike pitch.

On quite the opposite end of the spectrum, the out-of-sync version of A-Rod looks quite a bit in different in demeanor and approach. Tending to get caught in between, A-Rod gets pull conscious, and that's when you see those long, sweeping swings from him on outside breaking balls. That version of Rodriguez seems to have a distinct fear of getting beat by the fastball, which is why you so often see him look so poor on off-speed offerings during one of his rough patches.

Fortunately for the Yankees, Rodriguez is going through the furthest thing from a rough patch this October. Although he had his glimpses of playoff success in past ALDS action, as he did in 2004 against Minnesota, he has never looked quite so locked in and willing to drive the ball to the opposite field. When A-Rod comes to the realization that he does have the ability to wait and react late to the fastball without having to guess and start early, he is close to unstoppable. When he's at that level of confidence in his bat speed and he's staying short to the ball, he is no longer as vulnerable to the breaking ball down and away.

All mechanics aside, here is a key thing to keep an eye on in upcoming playoff action for Rodriguez. Just about the worst thing a pitcher can allow him to do is see and swing at a lot of pitches in an at-bat. As much as any hitter in the game, he gets exponentially more dangerous as he can see and file away a pitcher's arsenal. So, if you see a Rodriguez at-bat where he continues to foul off pitches, chances are he is waiting back well and unafraid of letting the pitch get right on top of him.

In his two biggest at-bats in the Twins' series against Joe Nathan in Game 2and Carl Pavano in Game 3, the pattern was similar. In both instances, Rodriguez, rather than starting the bat early, was content to foul balls off until he got a fastball he could time. Confidence is indeed an issue for A-Rod, and now that he can't be beat on the fastball, he will stay back and continue to punish the ball to center and right-center field.

Spotlight Moment

If you want the definition of a quality at-bat, look at A-Rod's seventh-inning battle with Carl Pavano on Sunday night. Quite often there is an obvious mistake by a pitcher early in a count that results in a home run, or in other cases there is finally a mistake forced by the hitter. This was a case of the latter against a pitcher who was on the top of his game.

Taking the close pitches and fouling off the tough ones, he was able to work the count full until Pavano left a fastball just elevated enough that he could drive it. In Pavano's defense, it was not a clear mistake pitch. When you are swinging the bat like A-Rod though, a minor mistake is all it takes. The rocket of a home run he drove over the right field wall is the type of thing you'll see when he is letting the ball come to him. It can't be said enough what a special, and locked in player it takes to be able to drive a pitch like that in a two-strike count.

Quick Hits

• The end result may not have gone his way, but hats off to Carl Pavano. With every excuse to fold under the pressure of facing the Yankees lineup, he turned in a brilliant performance. But let's give him even more credit from a stuff standpoint. Pavano is known as a pitcher that relies on command and feel for pitching, but he attacked the New York lineup with some very impressive stuff. Pitching at an adrenaline-fueled 91-93 mph early on, Pavano settled into the 90-91 vicinity the rest of the night. Most impressive was his changeup. A true swing-and-miss pitch if he throws it the way he did Sunday, Pavano's change has some splitter-like action, which can be tough on both lefties and righties. He is a three-pitch pitcher who has a very good idea of how to get quality big-leaguers out. Looking ahead to next season, he may be poised for a big year if he can remain healthy.

• Jonathan Papelbon has quality secondary pitches and plus velocity on his fastball, but the reality is that he is where he is because of fastball command. On Sunday afternoon, that command simply deserted him and he was burned because of it. Even when you are throwing 95-97 mph, big-league hitters will make you pay on fastballs in the middle of the plate -- especially when you are not showing your secondary pitches as he did (not) in this outing.

Frankie Piliere spent the last three seasons working as a scout, most recently in the professional scouting department for the Texas Rangers in 2009. He now serves as the National Baseball Analyst here at FanHouse.