Friday, April 30, 2010

What have been the keys to Cano's early season success?

Robinson Cano is hitting .407 and is on pace to hit 61 homers. There's no way he'll keep those stats up, but moving Cano to the 5th spot looks like a genius move by the Yanks. He leads the majors with 21 runs, 33 hits, the .407 BA, an amazing .790 SLG, an incredilbe 1.235 OPS, and 64 total bases. He leads the Yanks in nearly every offensive category. What has made him so great so far in '10?

During his career, Cano has hit .312 against righties and .302 against lefties. In '10 he's killing righty pitching, hitting .426 against them, while still managing a .370 BA against lefties. Cano has always started well in April, hitting .293 in April for his career, but in '10 he's taken that to a new level, hitting .407.

It's interesting that despite the fact that Cano is just "one of the guys" on the Yankees, the Yankees winning or losing has often depended on Cano during his career. He has hit .349 in wins, but just .249 in losses, a 100 point difference! In '10, Cano has been completely consistent no matter how the game turns out as he has hit .407 in both wins and losses.

Here''s why the move to the 5th spot in the lineup is so great. During his career, he has played the most games and done his best batting 7th, as he has hit .337 with 27 homers and 132 RBI in 247 games. In only 88 games batting 5th during his career, Cano has already hit 16 homers and has driven in 57 runs. In 159 less games, he only has 11 less homers!

And here's the biggest reason why Cano is flourishing so far in '10- his success with runners in scoring position. During his career, Cano has hit just .257 with runners in scoring position, including a .245 BA with 2 outs and runners in scoring position. In '10, he's really turned that around, hitting .300 with runners in scoring position and .333 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position. He's becoming a very clutch player. That is why Cano will succeed in the long run.

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