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Machado rains HRs with friend A-Rod on mind
- Updated: August 8, 2016
CHICAGO — Manny Machado was never a secret.
Guys who are physical specimens and have great baseball skills will be noticed early in their high school careers, if not even earlier. But it wasn’t a scout who was among the first to sell the Yankees about Machado’s potential. It was Alex Rodriguez.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman recalled on Sunday that an investment in the teenage Machado was a sign that A-Rod could spot talent and had a willingness to help talented players develop.
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Machado was 16 when he met Rodriguez through mutual friends. He’s 24 now, and was among those watching Rodriguez’s news conference — in which Rodriguez announced that he will be unconditionally released from his player contract and serve as a special advisor and instructor for the Yankees — before the Orioles’ 10-2 win over the White Sox.
Machado then went out and became the first player to homer in the first three innings of a game since White Sox outfielder Carl Reynolds did it off Hall of Famer Red Ruffing and Ken Holloway at Yankee Stadium in 1930.
But his mind was never far from thoughts of Rodriguez, who will play one final game in New York on Friday.
“That was for him,” Machado said of his three-homer, seven-RBI day. “That was all for him.”
Orioles manager Buck Showalter watched Rodriguez’s news conference with Machado after they arrived at U.S. Cellular Field.
“I’m not going to get too deep, but he was watching the press conference,” Showalter said after the victory. “I’m sure he had some emotions, and he responded.”
Every era in baseball is different, filled with its own issues and tendencies. But one of the truths …
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