According to
Baseball-Reference, only Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Ben Chapman, Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly, and Lou Gerhig have more hits at age 26 than Robinson Cano and only DiMaggio and Gerhig had more doubles (also according to
B-R). Cano came out of no place to have a great start to his career. So where does Cano go from here? Baseball-Reference lists the most similar players and I found it interesting to see Carlos Baerga and Yogi Berra's name both on there.
Through age 26, Carlos Baerga was a rising star in baseball. He had been named to three All Star Games, had four .300 seasons in a row, and posted two 100-RBI seasons. Then, in 1996, he struggled in the first half, was traded to the Mets, and was never a productive player again. Baerga's biggest problem? Lack of patience at the plate. He walked over 35 times once in his career and that was at age 22.
Yogi Berra was a very good hitter in his first few seasons but in his fourth season, at age 25, he took a huge leap thanks to a .388 OBP and never looked back. Yogi would never be a big walk guy (his highest total was 65), but he continued to develop as a hitter while Baerga seemed to regress.
Let's look at the stat comparison of Cano, Baerga, and Berra and add in Joe Mauer and Derek Jeter to the mix:
Stats through age 25
Player From To Yrs G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS+
+--------------+---------+--+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+
Robinson Cano 2005-2008 4 573 2218 303 671 151 15 62 309 99 272 .303 .335 .468 109
Joe Mauer 2004-2008 5 561 2059 325 653 128 14 44 301 292 233 .317 .399 .457 128
Carlos Baerga 1990-1994 5 684 2628 404 796 137 13 78 415 143 320 .303 .342 .454 116
Yogi Berra 1946-1950 5 482 1796 289 540 90 21 75 371 116 74 .301 .347 .499 123
Derek Jeter 1995-1999 5 638 2537 486 807 122 31 63 341 273 473 .318 .389 .465 121
The averages are all around the same, but Derek Jeter and Joe Mauer lead in OBP while Cano and Berra lead in slugging. I took out stolen bases because Jeter's the only one here who really relies on speed. But when you put them together, they all have their plusses and minuses. To be fair, age 25 was a down year for Robby. So let's see how they bounced back.
Stats through age 26
Player From To Yrs G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS+
+--------------+---------+--+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+
Robinson Cano 2005-2009 5 731 2846 406 873 199 17 87 394 129 334 .307 .339 .480 113
Joe Mauer 2004-2009 6 694 2564 414 838 157 15 72 394 361 293 .327 .407 .484 138
Carlos Baerga 1990-1995 6 819 3185 491 971 165 15 93 505 178 351 .305 .345 .454 115
Yogi Berra 1946-1951 6 623 2343 381 701 109 25 102 459 160 94 .299 .348 .498 125
Derek Jeter 1995-2000 6 786 3130 605 1008 153 35 78 414 341 572 .322 .394 .468 122
So this includes the year that Mauer and Cano are now finishing up. As you can see, Mauer is definitely better than Cano and so is Jeter (though Cano had more power), but Berra and Baerga are right there. Let's see what happened the next year for those bottom 3.
Stats through age 27 (with the exception of Mauer and Cano who are not yet 27)
Player From To Yrs G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS+
+--------------+---------+--+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+
Robinson Cano 2005-2009 5 731 2846 406 873 199 17 87 394 129 334 .307 .339 .480 113
Joe Mauer 2004-2009 6 694 2564 414 838 157 15 72 394 361 293 .327 .407 .484 138
Carlos Baerga 1990-1996 7 945 3692 550 1100 193 15 105 571 199 378 .298 .338 .444 108
Yogi Berra 1946-1952 7 765 2877 478 847 126 26 132 557 226 118 .294 .350 .494 127
Derek Jeter 1995-2001 7 936 3744 715 1199 188 38 99 488 397 671 .320 .392 .470 122
And this is where you can separate the men from the boys. Can Cano take that next step next year? This year he's cut down on the strikeouts and some of the poor decision-making at the plate, but his walks have no risen. Part of that is due to hitting in such a potent lineup, but his anxiety and failures with runners in scoring position has done nothing to help that out.
Still, he had his first 200-hit season this year and looks much more comfortable at the plate (and in the field as well). With no one on base, his slashes of .379/.410/.615 are
very good. Also good for Robby, he's improved his ratios a lot: his HR%, XBH%, X/H%, AB/SO, LD%, and HR/FB have all gone up and his SO%, SO/BB, AB/HR, and GB/FB have all gone down. Even his BB% is higher than last year, albeit less than his high in 2007.
The key will be to continue on this positive path with much better walk rates and with better numbers with RISP (and
if he's motivated, it seems Cano can continue to improve). If Cano can take that next step, he may still not be Yogi Berra (or Joe Mauer or Derek Jeter), and we may not be talking about him as a great all-time Yankee...but at least he won't become the Next Carlos Baerga.
Bucky Dent's home-run in Fenway (or the infamous Bucky f@$ing Dent, as he's known in New England). The 2007 playoff ended after Trevor Hoffman blew the save and Matt Holliday slid just past the catcher's tag (the Rockies would sweep their way through the next two rounds before getting swept by the Red Sox). Randy Johnson pitched a complete game, 3-hitter with 12 Ks in 1995 (and then went 2-0 against the Yankees in the ALDS). The Mets won the ALDS before losing the ALCS to the Braves on a Kenny Rogers walk-off walk. The 1980 Astros, the 1998 Cubs and the 2008 White Sox wouldn't make it out of the first round of the playoffs.
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