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I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a player as hot as Robinson Cano is right now. He’s dominating the game from every angle, hitting .400, slugging .790, and playing spectacular defense–like last night when he robbed Nolan Reimhold of a base hit up the middle ranging far to his right to field the ball and throwing back to first against his momentum which was carrying him into center field to beat Reimhold by a full step.
Going into last year’s world series one of the popular memes on local sports talk radio was: Is Robinson Cano better than Chase Utley? On paper it seemed like a reasonable arguement given Cano’s numbers at the time, but in practice it was no contest: Cano disappeared in the post season while the Yanks couldn’t get Utley out (or keep him in the ballpark) unless Damaso Marte was on the hill.
But at the moment Cano is by far the best second baseman in baseball. He’s leading the major leagues in batting average, hits, runs scored. He’s second in homers. (In one danger sign his RBI total is low for a guy with his number bating in that Yankee line-up, though its impossible to argu e with a .333 average with RISP). Long an underrated second baseman–his reputation fixed by some early career sloppiness–Cano has become a remarkably sure handed infielder with excellent range and a strong and quick throwing arm.
Joe Pawlikowski of River Avenue Blues says Cano can’t keep this up all season. No duh! If he did it would be one of the all time seasons on par with the best of Ted Williams and the like. But goodness gracious I am enjoying this torrent while it’s flowing and given Cano’s tendency towards strong second halfs, he could have an all-time year even if he cools down a little from this level.
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