Wondering about Cano’s emergence
May 4, 2010, 11:00 am by iYankees · 20 Comments
Steve Lombardi of Was Watching recently posed an interesting question with regards to the red hot, Robinson Cano. How, exactly, has Cano become who he is—an elite second baseman, that is actually leading both leagues in a number of offensive categories, from batting average to on base percentage? Now, Steve wonders about Cano’s development because of the apparent disparity between his minor league and Major League numbers.
As a minor leaguer, Cano owned a pretty good .278/.331/.425 line. As a Yankee, Cano has seen a sizeable improvement, posting a .309/.342/.488 line to date. It is also worth noting that since April of last year, Cano is hitting .329/.362/.551. Hence, Steve ponders Cano’s robust Major League triple slash line. Greatness was not exactly forecasted in his minor league statistics – he did bust out a bit in Triple-A in 2005, hitting a .942 OPS over 24 games – yet, here he is, one of the better hitters in all of baseball. It is an interesting thing, really.
While it is difficult to explain Cano’s success – the Yankees had dangled him in trade talks prior to his emergence, and did not seem to believe in Cano much themselves – I guess we can attribute it to some degree of untapped/unseen potential, potential that was not realized until he arrived in the Bronx and was challenged by big league pitchers (he was forced to learn and improve). Add in an assortment of other items specific to the Majors, such as having better facilities and good veteran hitters around for advice, to improved travel arrangements, and perhaps we will have our answer as to how Cano became what he is today. Again, it is an interesting albeit random thing to wonder about, as Steve did.
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