from YESNetwork.com

In both form and function, Alfonso Soriano is the same as he ever was. He’s still a wildly aggressive hitter, swallowing up opposing pitchers like a chemical fire consuming nitric acid. He still defies the image of a modern-day slugger with his long legs and spindly stalk. His numbers still impugn the sanctity of the spot in which he hits, as though Rickey Henderson no longer has any covenant with the game. He still loves Toronto.

After 209 hits last year, 92 of which went for extra bases, Soriano is still keeping things simple. See the ball, hit the ball. Simple is as simple does. Same as he ever was, only better than ever before.

Here he is, 10 days into his third full season, leading the game’s best offensive team in almost every category that matters, spitting out whatever opposing pitchers serve up, and still dripping with upside.

Soriano will slow down some day. He has to. How could he continue at this pace for the next 15 years? That would put him in the 600-home run bracket, and that just wouldn’t be right, not for a man of such slight stature, not for a second baseman, and in the name of Brett Butler, not for a leadoff hitter.

"I know I hit a lot of homers last year, but this year I am just thinking about leading off, and trying to be more selective," says Soriano. "I know I have the ability to hit a bunch of homers, but I don't think of myself as a home run hitter. I want to get on base for the team."

Still, you could see this coming long before Soriano cracked 39 home runs last season. The evidence had been mounting for years, before Darin Erstad of the Anaheim Angels drove in 100 runs a few years ago, before Derek Jeter became the first player to lead off a World Series game with a home run since Pete Rose. You could go back to 1996, when Brady Anderson hit 50 home runs from the top spot in the Baltimore Orioles’ lineup, for proof that the leadoff man was changing.

Henderson, Lou Brock et al probably marvel at Soriano’s tricks, just as they curse him for turning the batting order inside out. There wasn’t a hitter in the top two-thirds of the Yankee lineup who got on base with less frequency than Soriano last season. Yet he spent most of his time in scoring position and scored the most runs. The new leadoff man swings first. He’s up there to hit.

Soriano hit .452 (14-for-31) in Week 1 to earn AL Player of the Week honors. Twenty-eight total bases in six games. Three home runs, including a grand slam in the season’s first game in Toronto. All of which suggests his 381 total bases a year ago weren’t an accident but merely the opening bell.

"I feel a little bit more comfortable this year, because of my confidence," says Soriano. "I feel so comfy now."

Maybe his uncomplicated style of seeing and reacting makes the slumps shorter and the hot streaks longer. Maybe the speed in his hands allows him to wait longer than most hitters before committing. Maybe the more he sees the pitchers around the league the less likely he is to be enticed by the junk they throw him outside the strike zone. Maybe the real story has just begun.

For Soriano to be better over the full season, consistent contact is something he’ll need to familiarize himself with. The strikeout shows up in his stat line five times more than the walk. Four-to-one would be a significant one-year improvement. With eight strikeouts and two walks, that’s exactly the ratio he carries into this weekend’s series against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

This year started auspiciously under the roof of SkyDome, just like the season before. Soriano had six hits in 15 at-bats with a home run and six RBI in the opening series at Toronto. Coincidentally, it was a visit to Toronto in the Yankees’ third series last year that put Soriano on his way. He was hitting a solid .295 when the four-game series began last year, but he left Toronto sporting a .375 batting average after collecting 10 hits in 21 at-bats. He also hit the first of his 39 home runs in that series opener.

But Soriano’s on-base percentage was only 48th-best in the American League last year. Regardless of how much the function of the leadoff man has evolved, some may never consider Soriano a superior leadoff man until he gets closer to .400.

"Be on base. That's the most important," he says.

He makes it sound simple, too.