Thursday, June 19, 2008

Rosenthal: Cano is Mr. Unlucky

From Ken Rosenthal:

Yankees second Robinson Cano enters Thursday's play with the third-lowest OPS among qualifiers for the league leaders. Not to worry: The Yankees' internal measures show that Cano actually is performing at a normal level, and even better in one respect. He's just hitting into poor luck.

Cano's percentage of swinging at the first pitch is down for the second straight season, a sign of improved discipline. His line-drive percentage and chase percentages are approximately the same. But his batting average on balls in play is the fifth-lowest in the AL, according to The Hardball Times. If his luck improves -- as it should -- his other numbers will start to rise.

Cano's teammate, Jason Giambi, offers an interesting contrast -- he has the third-lowest BABIP in the AL, yet the third-highest OPS. True, one-fourth of Giambi's hits are homers, but he still would benefit from better luck.

The Yankees are certain to decline Giambi's $22 million option for 2009, but Giambi could be an interesting free agent, particularly with power in decline throughout the game.

For the year Cano BABIP is .241, well below his career mark, which is .321. His luck does seem to be improving, in the last 28 days his BABIP is .287, .318 in his last 14 days, and .353 in his last 7 days.

2 Comments:

kansasblogger said...

Cano is a solid player, maybe thanks to Purple. I'm glad the Yanks have a few prospects who are still young.

Greg Cohen said...

"Cano is a solid player, maybe thanks to Purple."

What?