Mookie Betts

Yankees great Derek Jeter is a big fan of Boston Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts, pictured running onto a field for a spring training workout in Fort Myers, Fla., on Feb. 13, 2017. (David Goldman | AP)

TAMPA -- Derek Jeter has a man crush on a Yankees arch-rival.

Well, that may be going to a little too far, but the retired Yanks captain definitely has an appreciation for players who play the game the way that he did, and Jeter named names on Tuesday night while meeting with Yankees minor leaguers at a Tampa restaurant for the grand finale of the Captain's Camp.

Actually, Jeter rattled off a single name when touted Yankees left-handed pitching prospect Justus Sheffield asked him whom he likes watching in today's game.

Jeter didn't say Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout or Yankees young catching phenom Gary Sanchez or Los Angeles Dodger spitching whiz Clayton Kershaw.

His answer, of all people, was a Boston Red Sox: Right fielder Mookie Betts, the runner-up for American League MVP last season as a 23-year-old.

"I asked (Jeter) who did he like if he was watching right now and he said he just likes guys that play the game hard," Sheffield said Wednesday before the Yankees rain-shortened spring training workout. "He mentioned watching Mookie Betts. He loves watching Mookie Betts play. Then he said, 'Anyone who goes and plays the game hard.'"

Like Jeter did for every one of his 2,747 games from 1995-2014, Betts fits the bill for playing the game hard. And like Jeter, Betts found greatness as a young man, as he hit .318 last season with 31 homers and 113 RBIs over 158 games in just his second full season.

Sheffield, by the way, is a native Tennessean who grew up rooting for the Red Sox.

"I didn't tell (Jeter) that," Sheffield said with a laugh. "But I feel like everyone in here would say that they loved watching Jeter play. How can you not like somebody like Derek Jeter?"

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.