Miguel Cabrera Looking Like His Old-Self This Spring
Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera has had quite the career. 477 home runs, two American League MVP awards, a Triple Crown, 7 Silver Sluggers, and a 4-time batting title champion. Need I say more?
But despite the success Cabrera has achieved throughout his career, the now 37-year-old has struggled for the past three seasons. Whether the problem has been performance or health, Cabrera has not been able to help the Tigers get past the 64 win mark over the last three years.
Now that isn’t to say that it is completely and solely Cabrera’s fault, but the bat Detroit had had in the middle of their lineup for nearly a decade slowly disappeared. However, this Spring Cabrera looks like he is ready to return to form.
It may be tough to buy in on an aging, heavy player like Cabrera, but the former third baseman looks slim as he is mashing balls all over Lakeland, Florida. The former MVP is currently slashing .348 / .423 / .1206 this Spring.
.@MiguelCabrera hit a baseball and it went VERY far.#TigersST pic.twitter.com/3pR8v1vwp3
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) March 5, 2020
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And yes, that home run was off of the $300 million man Gerrit Cole, whom Cabrera hit another homer off of later in the game. But the biggest take away for me is how Cabrera looks. He looks great shape ready to get back to the guy he was in 2013 and 2014 (when he won the MVP award).
To those who saw Miguel Cabrera’s pair of home runs Thursday, you may have noticed something different about his swing.
He altered his follow-through, going from one hand to two. Albeit sparingly, he has used this before, during the 2013 and 2014 seasons.(video from May 2014) pic.twitter.com/z0UC1kUE3x
— Miguel Cabrera’s Bat (@Miggysbat) March 7, 2020
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Players like Nelson Cruz and Edwin Encarnacion continue to produce into their late 30s, and it should be reasonable to expect the same from Cabrera. The veteran is as pure a hitter as they come, and, if he is healthy, he could be going into 2020 with his hair on fire. And it isn’t like Cabrera was horrible last year. He wasn’t nearly the same guy, but he was able to hit .282 with a .744 OPS. Not great, not terrible.
But either way, we should hope Miggy returns to the guy that destroyed baseballs day in and day out. I enjoy that Cabrera a lot more than the singles machine he has shown over the past few seasons.
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-Jarrod Ribaudo (@Jribs53)