It's time to issue a
mea culpa: I was dead wrong about Robinson Cano's hitting ability in the 5th spot of the lineup and I apologize for it. Now can we move on? No? Ok, well let's review.
I railed against how the Yankees constructed their lineup when Cano was hitting 5th in mid-June, and a week later,
I was still on the task, with
some data to back it up. I called it "
inexplicable", suggested they hit him *gulp*
lead-off, and threw up a "
Hallelujah!" when they moved Cano out of the 5th spot. I wasn't
the only one. I look back on those posts now and cringe. Why? Because I was dead wrong, as so far this season, Cano is proving to be one of the better hitters in baseball.
And for a guy who began his career as a slow starter (.293/.327/.451 in 1st half vs .329/.360/.533 in 2nd half--and that includes this April), he's on one hell of an April tear. He leads the majors in runs, hits, batting average, slugging percentage, wOBA, OPS+ and total bases, and leads the AL in OPS. Cano has hit in 8 straight games (where he is hitting .531), is 16 for his last 24, went 17 for 34 on the road trip, went 8 for 13 in the last series with 3 homeruns, and has played (in general) very good defense at 2nd including a Web Gem last night (shown to the right). He leads the Yankees with 8 home runsAnd there's this from
ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand: "
If he keeps his average above .400 on Friday night, [Cano] will finish this month with eight homers and a .400 batting average. No Yankee has ever done that, according to Elias. The last major leaguer to hit .400 with at least eight April home runs was Barry Bonds six years ago."
River Ave Blues writes: "
I know it’s April, but that’s utterly insane. If the Yankees didn’t already contractually control his rights through 2013, I’d suggest that they lock him up before he hits the open market." And the
Posts' Joel Sherman writes "
Cano has the look of someone who has graduated from a very good player to something more special than that."
Now, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's throw out a few caveats. First, it is still just April. And Cano still isn't that much more disciplined at the plate. According to FanGraphs, Cano has the highest BB% of his career so far with 6.7%, but he's also striking out 12.3% which would be his highest mark since 2008. And Cano is a streaky player and has been beating up on some bad teams so the fun may only last until the next slump or the next good pitching team.
Yankeeist points out that the real test may come next month for Robbie.
But this is the Robinson Cano that Yankee fans have waited for for a long time now. We've seen him have streaks of brilliance, but for some reason, he seemed to lose the focus needed to put it all together for an
MVP-type season. 2010 may be the year. Now some had suggested that maybe Cano would play worse this season without his buddy, Melky Cabrera, on the team. But rumor (and
internet pictures) has it that Cano and Melky partied a lot together and maybe without the distraction of Melky, Cano can be a more focused baseball player. Regardless of what the reason is, Cano seems to be clicking on all cylinders through the month of April. He looks
slick in the field and smooth at the bat. Again, it's still early, but this is a great start for Robinson Cano, don't ya know!
Posts
I actually had similar thoughts about Cano without Melky. Perhaps Melky was bringing Cano down?
ReplyDeleteI have noted that most of Cano's homers are solo shots. But he's also hitting about 300 with runners on/in scoring position so I won't be critical about that.
The play Cano made when he ranged to his right, snared the ball on the outfield grass behind the 2nd base bag, and threw across his body (without stopping or planting his foot) to fire a strike that hit Mark Teixeira right in the chest and nabbed the baserunner by a step....amazing. Ken Singleton said on the broadcast that Joe Morgan swears Cano is the best he's seen in terms of going to his right and throwing across his body. The best part? He makes it look so damn easy. The great players always do.
ReplyDeleteEveryone is glowing about his bat -- and rightfully so, since he's leading the team in every major offensive category, not to mention MLB in batting average -- but let's not forget how good he is with the glove.
Here's the other great thing. The team is 14-7 despite Javy Vazquez's awful start, and similarly cold starts from Teixeira and A-Rod. Imagine what happens when the team really starts hitting? It's going to be one heck of a race with the Rays...and maybe even the Red Sox. Maybe.
Just for rooting interest tonight: If Robinson Cano goes 1-4, he finishes the month at exactly .400. Anything better, he's over and anything worse, he's under (according to my very quick calculations).
ReplyDelete