I have said that I always thought he was capable of hitting around .300 with 20 homers and a decent eye, but I didn't think it'd be this soon! I know it's early, but this could very well continue. He's not showing signs of this being a fluke.
Melky Cabrera (2007)
.291/.359/.505
6 HR
19.5% LD (same as usual)
44.8% GB (about 5-7% lower than usual)
35.6% FB (5% up from last year)
4.0 P/PA (0.3 higher than the last two seasons)
14/12 K/BB
It makes sense. He's seeing more pitches per plate appearance than usual, so he's reacquired and improved upon the patience he showed in 2006. He got to 3 ball counts in 17% of his plate appearances last year and so far this year, he's done it in 22% of his plate appearances. The more patient a hitter you are, the more you'll be swinging at good pitches.
Cano really needs to pick up the pace here. With no A-Rod or Posada in the lineup for a couple weeks, Cano's bat becomes all the more important. He's actually been taking some better swings of late, but he still needs to get comfortable going to left field again. A lot of bad luck and his inability to hit the ball to left with authority helps explain the 200+ actual OPS drop from his PrOPS. I hope he starts heating up soon.
2 comments:
Sucks that 10 days later, Melky has been slacking off when we need him to be picking it up. Hopefully he comes around.
Yeah, although it's looking like he's just been unlucky. His line drive and groundball percentage hasn't changed over the last 10 days. So he should still be hitting about the same as he was before, and Hardball Times confirms that. Based on batted balls, they have him hitting .297/.353/.496, which is right around what he was 10 days ago. Hopefully his luck changes.
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