A-Rod’s third spring homer was his most impressive yet (Video)

Saturday was a bad day to be a baseball in Florida. 

In particular, the baseball that met the bat of New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez had a rough ride out of George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, but at least it had a good view. 

The home run was Rodriguez’s third of the spring and it was easily his most impressive. 

Rodriguez was sitting first-pitch baseball and got a first-pitch fastball from Baltimore Orioles left-hander Brian Matusz, and then confirmed he still has the bat speed to square up a fastball and hit it a long ways.

As many people have described it, it was a vintage A-Rod home run that absolutely exploded off his bat, which has to viewed as an encouraging sign for anybody with a vested interest in the Yankees. 

[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Baseball: Sign up and join a league today!]

Overall, Rodriguez is hitting .306 on the spring with the three homers and a double. He’s shown excellent plate discipline as well, and with each passing day he seems more comfortable at the plate. He’s a strong case to be Joe Girardi’s full-time designated hitter.

At this point, the main concerns with A-Rod might come down to durability and versatility. With that in mind, Girardi plans on giving A-Rod his first look at first base on Sunday. He’s tentatively scheduled to play five innings, and it’s hoped he’ll eventually prove to be a realistic emergency option behind Mark Teixeira and Garrett Jones. A-Rod has been receptive to the idea as well, because it could give him another path to Girardi’s lineup aside from DH and third base. 

Our suggestion: Just keep hitting titanic home runs, A-Rod. That your surest ticket to 140 games. 

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813