Asdrubal Cabrera has really turned it on this season, becoming the Indians leader in games played, at bats, hits, runs, RBI, total bases, triples and home runs. He is on pace for career bests in just about all those stats and has especially seen an increase in power production. Cabrera already has his career high in home runs with 9. After last night’s ridiculous effort where he went 5/5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI, I thought now would be the best time to look at what he has done so far this year.
On the left side of the screen are Asdrubal’s ability rating graphics for his entire career (the scale is on the top). Asdrubal started in 2007 after he was acquired from the Seattle Mariners and only played 45 games that season. This explains why his durability is so low that year. His durability was also low in 2010, because his arm was broken by Jhonny Peralta.
Using the picture at the top of the screen, it is easy to see that Asdrubal has always been a high average hitter. He has also been an average contact hitter with average plate discipline, but has been low in power and speed. These numbers are based on how he compares in single season averages to every batter who has had more than 50 games played in Indians history.
In 2011, while keeping his contact and plate discipline numbers about the same, his average and speed numbers are higher than ever. This is shown in conventional stats as well as Asdrubal is hitting .302 and stealing 6 bases without being caught.
His power numbers are the real outlier though. All these ratings are based on a maximum score of 99. This year Asdrubal has a power score of 86. His career average before this season was 37. Some Indians hitters who have averaged about an 86 for power over their careers with the Tribe are Ellis Burks, Hal Trosky, Matt Williams and Dave Justice. Only seven players have averaged more than an 86 for their careers in over 100 years of Cleveland Indians history.
The Indians media has caught on to a conversation held between Orlando Cabrera and Asdrubal in spring training, where Orlando told the other Cabrera to devote one at bat per game to power hitting. Another conversation was brought up where Orlando reminded him “don’t forget about the homers.” If it was that easy, somebody should have told that to Duane Kuiper. All signs point to this being an extreme aberration with a return to the norm being expected soon. With all that being said, no one can take away the home runs he has already hit and if he can keep it going, he will quickly make people forget about the power hitter that was Jhonny Peralta.
Currently Cabrera is on pace to hit 33 home runs. If he hits over 20 it will be one of the biggest turn arounds in Cleveland Indians history.
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