Cuban Randy Arozarena, who has established himself as one of the most emblematic figures of the Tampa Bay Rays, had one of his best seasons last year with Tampa. The outfielder hit 23 homers with 83 RBIs and 95 runs scored. In addition, he had 140 hits, 45 of them as extra-base hits, and posted a .789 OPS.
Although the Cuban has had a spring training with little offensive production for the Rays, he has been starting to find his swing. Arozarena first hit of the spring, a single in the series against the Red Sox in the Dominican Republic Series and then hit his first home run of the season against Baltimore. The slugger took advantage of a pitch that stayed in the zone and deposited the ball the left -center field seats.
El jardinero @RandyArozarena nos habla sobre el nivel de la @LIDOMRD y sobre su preparación física durante la temporada muerta.#pelotacubana #DominicanRepublicSeries pic.twitter.com/I5ZVpHC1qO
— Yusseff305 🇨🇺🇺🇲 (@yusseff305) March 10, 2024
“My main goal is to hit the ball hard,” Arozarena told the Tampa Bay Times. “In other campaigns I was just trying to hit the ball in one area. But my focus now is to hit the ball hard to all fields,” he explained. According to Randy Arozarena, the Tampa’s hitting coach, Chad Mottola, made him look for ways to counteract how pitchers attacked him in the second half last season.
“In the last two weeks he has been concentrating more at the plate.” said Mottola. “So now, it’s time for Randy to be Randy.” For his part, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash explained that the Cuban has had some good at-bats but has just been unlucky. The native of Pinar del Río, Cuba who is among the top 100 players in MLB, has stated that he has been working on improving his physique in order to increase his endurance as the season wears on.