Mark Gubicza

Hey guys, a pleasure to be on here with you again.

I think it really started, he went back to a little bit of a back step.

He started doing it in the series against

Cincinnati, where he had a lot of baseball, was really hard, but just didn't get a lot to show for as far as hitting the wall.

And then in Yankee Stadium, a stadium for whatever reason, obviously he's a Jersey guy.

He's put up great numbers to begin with, but it was like him versus Judge, Yankees versus Angels.

It was like a heavyweight bout with those two guys.

I'll tell you what, it was good to see it because he had a smile on his face the entire series.

Playing center field, I think, is a big thing.

The year before, they were trying to find a way to keep him on the field, keep him healthy, put him in a corner outfield spot.

Maybe that would alleviate some stress on his knees and everything else.

But he said in spring training, nope, I want to play center field.

Defense has been better.

He's a lot more relaxed.

I think he really kind of likes the direction the team is going, especially with some of the younger players.

But he's hitting the ball as hard as I've seen him since maybe way back to,

like even 2019.

The last stretch he had at the end of the year, last year out there, he had a score on his home run, and he had five home runs the last seven games.

That's when he started doing that little back step.

Didn't do it right away to start the season, which I'm still kind of surprised that didn't happen, but made that adjustment.