Dad Figures Out Cano

Jack Curry has a nice read out that details the relationship between Robinson Cano and his father, Jose. Their relationship seems integral to Robbie’s success and, apparently, we can thank his dad for bringing him out of his terrible season-starting slump.

When Canó gets ready to swing, he lifts his right foot, then follows through by whipping his bat through the strike zone. José told his son that he was destroying his timing by keeping his foot in the air too long.

In a perfectly executed at-bat, Robinson said, he lifts his foot and has it on the ground in time to recognize what pitch is being thrown. But if his foot stays in the air an extra millisecond, he said, he does not have sufficient time to know if a pitch is a ball or a strike. Canó has 16 hits in his last 48 at bats, 61 fewer at bats than it took him to record his first 16 hits.

“I was putting my foot down too late,” Canó said. “Before, I was hitting line drives in the left-center-field gap. Now I’m hitting foul balls behind the visitor’s dugout.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees put Jose on the payroll. In April, Cano hit .192 with a .446 OPS. Now, in May, Cano is hitting .314 with an .822 OPS.