Miguel Cabrera worries him.
The face of the Detroit Tigers has won two American League MVP awards, thrown in a historic Triple Crown of 2012 and has been one of the best in baseball in his 18-year MLB career.
However, this season is no different than what he has.
Cabrera, 37, will not blame the knee and back injuries that have infiltrated the tail end of his career. His teammates and coaches say he is healthy – and his body supports those claims. He will not tell you that he has lost his power. Statcast’s numbers say it’s among the top 12% of hitters in takedown speed and top 11% in hit rate. And his expected batting average, based on an array of statistics, is .266.
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However, Cabrera’s batting average is actually .181, accompanied by a .275 on-base percentage and .319 slipping percentage. He has four home games, one double and 11 RBIs. Sunday was his 14th straight game without an extra-base hit, with the last coming on August 8 in Pittsburgh. Since August 8, he is 8-for-51 with 11 strikeouts and continues to fight as the Tigers near the halfway point of the 60-game schedule.
“Miggy worries he’s not getting any hits,” Tigers coach Joe Vavra said Saturday. ‘He wants to make a contribution. He wants to be that man. And if you saw him there for about four or five games (7-for-21 with three homers from July 30 to August 8), everything went really well. … I totally feel that the numbers are falling where they should be falling. ”
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That’s why Vavra does not care, even though Cabrera’s “barrel percentage” – the percentage of time he actually connects with a ball, according to Statcast – is a tick down, from 6.4% in 2019 to 5.8% this year. The analysts tell him that Cabrera should perform better than he is, which means he needs to get around it.
Manager Ron Gardenhire passed on the same message last week, repeating that he has bigger problems than Cabrera to go on an 11-15 ball club. But the lack of offense from the DH spot becomes harder to ignore, especially in the No. 3 spot in the order.
“Right now it’s just one of those things when he does not look great,” Gardenhire said on Thursday. “He hit some balls right on the button, right at people. I’ve been saying for a while, try not to worry about that guy. He can hit, and he has a few balls up. … He’s fine. “
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The decline in Cabrera’s barrel percentage (15.9% in 2016) is a byproduct of trying to get the lower half of his body in sync with the upper part. He aims to rotate his hips early enough so that he does not have to rely on his hands and arms to make contact.
He wants to ride back to playing football with his legs.
“The ball comes on him, and he’s having a hard time getting the fastball,” Vavra said. ‘The figures show it. This year, he’s kind of working a little faster to get to fastballs and he’s having a harder time on off-speed (pitches). We need to find the balance there. ”
The analysts prove what Vavra is saying here as well.
Cabrera has an expected .330 handball average against the fastball (actually .227), but he only hits .135 against breaking balls, with an expected .237 average when those pitches come his way. Because of this, his opponents used the breaking ball against him 37.5% of the time, more than any season in his career.
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Against offsped pitches (especially the change) he has a .100 batting average with a .102 expected average. Although Cabrera’s expected handball average against the fastball assumes he needs to improve, analysts suggest he will continue to fight if he can not click on break balls and off-speed offers.
Entering the season, Gardenhire had plans to let Cabrera rest for day games after an overnight game to prevent an injury. But Cabrera asked to play, hence his place in Sunday’s lineup for a 1:10 hour matchup against the Cleveland Indians.
He wants to rediscover himself on the plate.
“It’s a tough challenge in a 60 – game season to get a man as hot as he’s ever been,” Vavra said. ‘And then treat some of the things he has to deal with – the legs over the year and some age. But he is in great shape. He is in good spirits and (has a) good spirit.
“Every day he can loosen it.”
Evan Petzold is an Internship Reporter in Sports at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.
