From Bryan Hoch:
If Robinson Cano has another strong season, he can thank the shores of Boca Chica. Every Friday during the offseason, the Yankees second baseman was among a group of players who hit a beach in the Dominican Republic, incorporating aquatics into their workout regimen.
Combining swimming and running on sand into a weekly program that included weightlifting and climbing stairs at a local stadium, Cano reported to camp in fit condition. He appears to have put on additional muscle as he looks to improve upon a 19-homer, 97-RBI campaign in 2007, but says he would prefer to repeat his 41-double showing for a third consecutive year.
“I don’t think about [home runs],” Cano said. “Fifteen to 20 is about where I want to be. I can hit balls the other way and go gap-to-gap. I never think about being a power hitter.”
Cano worked out over the offseason with Yankees teammates Melky Cabrera, Wilson Betemit and Edwar Ramirez. He earned a four-year, $30 million contract extension after finishing the year batting .306, helped greatly by a red-hot July in which he hit .385.
Cano credits most of the second-half surge to Long, the Yankees’ hitting coach, who repeatedly provided an optimistic forecast. Long would pull Cano aside and tell him not to worry, that sooner or later he would begin to hit. Sure enough, Cano’s batting average steadily rose.
“Especially after the first half I had,” Cano said, “I would be hitting .220 and think, ‘How can I get to even .280?’ To finish over .300 when the season ends, I was happy with that.”
It’ll be interesting to see Cano hit this year. Maybe then we can establish some sort of definitive pattern regarding his production. For instance…
In 2005, Cano was a lot better on the road than he was at home (.252 VS .338). Then, he heated up in the second half, hitting .303/.325/.457 (compared to his first half’s .288/.313/.459). So, it’s not as if his second half figures are extremely better than his first half (overall), but there is a marked difference in terms of his BA and OB (not his SLG).
In 2006, Cano proved to better on the road again, hitting .364, although his home numbers were equally great (.314) and nothing to be upset about. He also hit well in the second half, posting up a .365/.380/.635 line, which was significantly greater than his .325/.353/.439 figures (big SLG jump). Either way, Cano hit everything that year and almost won himself a batting title.
Then, in 2007, we saw Cano continue his dominance in the second half, hitting .343/.396/.557 of the final months of the season. His first half was miserable (for him), putting up a .274/.314/427 line. However, Cano also had better numbers at home in 2007, hitting .315 versus .297 in away games. It’s a strange change, although it can possibly be attributed to an extra slow start to the season (production-wise). Oddly enough, Cano actually beat up lefties in 2007, which was his weaker matchup in previous years.
2008 will be the year of understanding for us about Robinson Cano, as it will shed light on the type of hitter he will become (or that he is). His figures will give us a greater sample size in order to find more consistent patterns. If he starts off slow this year and then picks it up in the second half, we’ll know that he may take a bit longer to get himself going, offensively (that’s in-line with his previous career numbers). However, it’ll be interesting to see how his home/away splits play out, as well as his righty/lefty numbers (2007 was likely a deviation from the norm).
