MLB

Jeter not sweating slow spring start

TAMPA — Another hitless day knocked Derek Jeter’s spring training average down to .132, and he has just one extra-base hit in 41 plate appearances this spring.

So though the fans at Champion Field in Lake Buena Vista repeatedly gave the retiring shortstop standing ovations throughout the Yankees’ 7-0 win over the Braves on Wednesday, he hasn’t done much to earn the adulation lately.

Despite all that, Jeter insists he isn’t concerned — mostly because his twice-fractured left ankle is no longer a concern.

“I haven’t worried about that for a while,” Jeter said before the bus ride. “I haven’t worried since I got here.”

That’s a far cry from last spring, when it was all he could think about.

“If you’re comparing the two years, it’s completely different,” Jeter said. “Just walking around last year was a struggle. This year, I haven’t thought about it at all.”

And he doesn’t expect that to change.

“It hasn’t even crossed my mind since I’ve been down here,” Jeter said. “I really don’t think about it anymore.

“I don’t look at is as a weight off my mind. Last year was just some extreme circumstances and it was the first time I ever had to deal with something like that, so now I’m back to where I can just go out and play.”

Still, the on-field results have yet to come.

“He’s getting comfortable with his timing, staying inside the ball and elevating some balls,” hitting coach Kevin Long said. “He’s using his legs and doing all the things he’s used to doing. Every spring training he goes through stretches when he doesn’t hit the ball in the air. … The good thing is his swing isn’t hindered by anything right now. He looks normal to me, and that was never the case last year.”

The 39-year-old shortstop says he is not discouraged.

“There’s two weeks left [until Opening Day],” Jeter said. “I don’t want to be where I want to be at the end of spring training yet.”

And the 17 games he was limited to last season haven’t affected the way he has played this spring or the approach he has taken.

“Some springs take longer than others to get going,” Jeter said. “I don’t try to do anything new or different. There have been springs that have gone like this and some have gone better, but there’s no correlation between last year and this year. I could be having the same spring now if I stayed healthy last year.”

A worry-free mind is something Jeter says he expected when he announced this would be his final season.

“That was the first time I ever had to go through something like that,” Jeter said of the multiple leg injuries that plagued him in 2013. “That’s why I made sure I was physically in a good place before I decided I was going to say this was my last year.”

And if he wasn’t confident that was the case, Jeter is unsure what he would have done.

“I don’t know,” Jeter said. “But I’ve said I didn’t want to make this decision based on my health, because I was hurting.”

Manager Joe Girardi said he believes Jeter, like Mark Teixeira and his surgically repaired wrist, has put the injury behind him.

“I think they’ve pretty much put it to rest,” Girardi said. “I haven’t seen anything to lead me to believe they’re not going to be healthy this season.”

For now, Jeter is concentrating on getting ready for Houston on April 1.

“I’m focused on now, not when the season is going to end or how all that’s going to go,” said Jeter, who spent time before Wednesday’s game with Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson, since he no doubt will be sending plenty of equipment to Cooperstown this year.

“My job is the same as it’s always been: To get ready for when the season starts,” Jeter said. “I’ve tried to shy away from saying I can’t wait to get out of here. I’m trying not to look too far ahead.”