Robinson Cano Taking Game to New Level with New York Yankees
June 10, 2010 · Andrew Godfrey · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Robinson Cano doesn’t get the publicity of Yankee teammates Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira, but he is having the best season of any Yankee position player in 2010.
He is currently leading the majors in hitting with a .376 average and is fourth in the majors in runs batted in with 46 with only Miguel Cabrera, Vladimir Guerrero, and Evan Longoria ahead of him.
Cano leads the majors in hits with 88 with Ichiro Suzuki next with 83. He is tied for sixth in home runs with 12. Only Cabrera has more total bases than Cano with 145 with Cano one behind at 144. His .418 OBP is sixth best in the majors among players with at least 150 at-bats.
He is fourth in the majors in slugging with a .615 mark. Only Cabrera, Justin Morneau, and Andre Ethier have a higher percentage. For sake of comparison, Albert Pujols is No.16 on the list at .557.
Cano is fifth in OPS with a 1.033 mark. Alex Rodriguez is way down the list with a .843 mark.
He almost leads the Yankees across the board in most offensive categories. He leads in runs, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, total bases, all four offensive percentage categories, and extra-base hits.
All of his current offensive percentage numbers are career highs. His 88 hits with over 100 games left in the season should insure his second straight 200-hit season.
His .312 batting average is No. 12 among active players. At 27 it may be too young to even consider Cano as a future Hall of Famer, but if he keeps playing like he has in the past six years, he could very well have a plaque on the wall in Cooperstown along with many other Yankee greats.
When he hits his next home run, it will be the 100th of his career, but he should reach the 200 homers plateau a lot sooner since he has hit 37 since the start of the 2009 season.
Cano hits even better away from Yankee Stadium with a .380 road average. He has hit consistently all season, hitting .400 in April, .336 in May, and .455 in June. His batting average in night games is an amazing .421.
Even when playing defense he has done well, with only one error in 305 chances with the season over a third over.
If Cano continues to play at this level all season, he should receive consideration as the AL MVP, but for right now he is definitely the MVP for the Yankees at this stage of the season.
Around the Diamond
Boof Bonser allowed four runs and two hits while not retiring a batter in the 11-0 loss by the Red Sox to the Indians. MLB.com doesn’t even list his ERA, as it is so high since he has not retired a batter this season, as that was his first appearance.
Mark Teixeira may be finally breaking out of his season-long slump after having five hits in his last nine at-bats in his last two games after going 0-for-10 in his previous two games. His .224 average matches his season high when he was hitting .224 on May 19.
Jonathan Sanchez (4-5, 2.82) is continuing to be a victim of little run support when on the mound. He has lost games this season when he gave up one run in seven innings, one run in five innings, one run in eight innings, and two runs in seven innings. His four wins have come in games in which he gave up no runs or one run.
The Rays have outscored their opponents 28-6 in their last three games and have outscored the Blue Jays 19-1 in their last two games, allowing the Blue Jays one run and six hits total in those games.
David Price (9-2, 2.23) needs only one more win to match his 2009 total, when he posted a 10-7 record with a 4.42 ERA. It took him 23 starts to record the 10 wins last season while needing only 12 starts to win nine games in 2010.
The two Chicago teams, who have not been hitting well for most of the 2010 season, broke out last night, scoring a combined 24 runs and hammering 28 hits, including eight home runs. The Cubs posted a 9-4 win over the Brewers with Carlos Zambrano winning his first game as a starter since April 10 despite walking five batters in five innings. The Cubs moved to within 5.5 games of the second place Cardinals in the NL Central.
Derek Lee hit his 300th home run of his career, while Geovany Soto and Marlon Byrd each hit two home runs in the contest.
Meanwhile, at Cellular Field in Chicago, the White Sox blasted the Tigers 15-3 behind the pitching of Freddy Garcia (6-3, 4.82) and a 16-hit attack that lifted the team average to .245 after being .225 earlier this season.
The White Sox scored seven times in the fourth and seventh innings. Brent Lillibridge hit a three-run, pinch-hit home run in the seventh inning in only his second at-bat this season. All 10 White Sox who hit in the game had at least one hit.
Omar Vizquel had three hits and drove in three runs, while Ramon Castro drove in four runs, including a three-run home run. Gordon Beckham had his first extra-base hit since April 29 when he doubled.
Garcia pitched well except for solo home runs given up to Brennan Boesch and Miguel Cabrera. The problem for the White Sox has been consistency since they have one winning streak of over two games, when they finished a three-game sweep over the Mariners on April 25.
The only other time the White Sox have won as many as two games in a row is when they defeated the Marlins on May 22 and 23. They have alternated losses with wins over their last four games.
John Danks takes the mound tonight for the White Sox and has lost five of his last six starts. His mound opponent, Max Scherzer, struck out 14 in his last win on May 30 against the A’s but lost his last start against the Royals and has only one win since April 18.
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