Into the Strike Zone: A-Rod's 600th Homer

On Wednesday, Alex Rodriguez became only the seventh player in Major League Baseball to hit 600 career home runs in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. The road was difficult, having gone 46 at-bats without a homer. However, once he found the pitch he wanted, it was history. Take a look at every pitch he saw during the game below.

On Wednesday, Alex Rodriguez became only the seventh player in Major League Baseball to hit 600 career home runs in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. The road was difficult, having gone 46 at-bats without a homer. However, once he found the pitch he wanted, it was history. Take a look at every pitch he saw during the game below.

As you can see, Shaun Marcum (the Blue Jays pitcher) wanted to keep the ball away from A-Rod as much as possible. However, even the tiniest slip of the finger in a 90 MPH pitch can result in the perfect, slightly inside fastball.

Thanks to Jesse Gebhardt for this amazing viz.