Melky Cabrera

Melky Cabrera
New York Yankees – No. 53
Center fielder
Bats: Switch Throws: Left
debut
July 7, 2005, for the New York Yankees
Career statistics (through October 11, 2009)
Batting average	.269
Home runs	36
Runs batted in	228
Runs	250
On-base plus slugging	.716
Teams
New York Yankees (2005-present)
Career highlights and awards
Hit for the cycle on Aug 2, 2009 2009 Major League Baseball Clutch Performer of the Month of May

Melky Astacio Cabrera (born August 11, 1984, in Santo Domingo Oeste, Dominican Republic) is a center fielder for the New York Yankees, a Major League Baseball team.

Baseball career

Minors

Cabrera was signed by the New York Yankees on November 13, 2001, at age 17. In 2002, at age 18, he made his professional debut with the Yankees Rookie League affiliate in the Dominican Summer League.

He made his first minor league appearance with the Rookie-Advanced team in the NY Penn League with the Staten Island Yankees in 2003, batting .283 with 31 RBIs in 67 games. In 2004, he moved up to Class A with the Battle Creek Yankees, hitting .333 with 16 RBI in 42 games before being promoted to the high Class A Tampa Yankees, where he hit .288 with 51 RBI in 85 games to finish the season.

In 2005, Cabrera started off with the Class AA Trenton Thunder, hitting .275 with 60 RBIs in 106 games. At the end of June, he was called up to the Class AAA Columbus Clippers. On July 7, 2005, he made his major league debut. However, he only played six games before he was moved back down to Columbus. In 2006, he started the season in Columbus, but due to injuries to Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield, he became the everyday left fielder for the Yankees.

2005 - Major League debut

On July 7, Cabrera made his major league debut in center field at Yankee Stadium against the Cleveland Indians. His first at bat against Kevin Millwood resulted in a strikeout. He collected his first major league hit, a single, to left field, in his third at bat to a standing ovation. The next day, he went 2-for-3 against Cleveland Indians pitcher Cliff Lee, scoring his first major league run. Cabrera would go 0-for-his next 13 and make a costly miscue in center on July 15 against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, misplaying a Trot Nixon fly ball that resulted in an inside-the-park homer during a 17–1 defeat. He was sent down to Class AAA Columbus the next day for 17 games, and then demoted back to Class AA Trenton Thunder to finish out the season.

2006

Cabrera saw a lot of time in spring training of 2006 with starting outfielders Johnny Damon and Bernie Williams playing in the World Baseball Classic. He impressed the Yankees by hitting .349 in 16 games, however, he was ultimately sent to Class AAA Columbus at the start of the season.

He had a strong start to the season, hitting .385 with 4 home runs and 24 RBI in just 31 games before being called up on May 9 after left fielder Hideki Matsui broke his wrist and landed on the disabled list until September 12. Cabrera stepped in at left field and hitting .318 in May with his first 10 career RBI and two career stolen bases. On May 30, batting leadoff for just the second time in his career, he recorded his first career 4-hit game, going 4-for-6, missing the cycle by a homer. In June, he fell into a slump, although he hit his first major league home run on June 15. On June 6, in the 8th inning of a 2-1 game against the Red Sox, Melky made an outstanding catch in left-center, (which became known as "The Melky Catch") leaping over the wall to steal a home run from Boston's Manny Ramírez. After the catch, Johnny Damon cheered and danced in the outfield. This play earned Melky a "This Year In Baseball" Award (voted on by the fans) for the most outstanding play of the 2006 season. In July, Melky heated up again, hitting .313 with 14 RBI. Highlights of the month included his first career 5-RBI game on July 5, with his first career grand slam against Paul Byrd to break a tie score. On July 18, Melky hit his first career walk-off home run, a line shot in the bottom of the 11th against the Seattle Mariners to give the Yankees a 5–4 win. He finished the 2006 season tied for second in the league with 12 outfield assists.

2007

Cabrera was given the role of fourth outfielder and did not get regular at-bats at the beginning of the 2007 season. When he did play, he struggled, batting just .200 in April and .254 in May in limited playing time. He was batting .223 on the season when Jason Giambi went on the disabled list on June 1. Giambi's placement on the DL, however, gave Cabrera more playing time. Johnny Damon was moved to Giambi's role of designated hitter and Cabrera took Damon's spot in center field. Since then, Cabrera hit .320 with 3 of his 5 home runs and 21 of his 36 RBI. He also had a then career high 13-game hitting streak going from July 1–17. While Bobby Abreu was struggling in July, Cabrera batted second so that Derek Jeter could move to third in the lineup. He cemented himself as the Yankees' starting center fielder, causing Giambi to compete with at bats at DH since he returned from the DL. His career-high hitting streak of 19 games ended in a 2-hit whipping by the Baltimore Orioles when the Orioles outscored the Yankees 12–0. However, he continued to get on base with a walk. Prior to the July 31 trade deadline, the Texas Rangers' offered Yankees GM Brian Cashman their closer, Eric Gagné, in exchangee for Cabrera. Cashman refused this proposal, showing how valuable he thought Cabrera was to the Yankees.[3]

In 2007, Cabrera was fourth in the American League in sacrifice flies (9), fifth in sacrifice hits (10), sixth in triples (8), and tied for third in outfield assists (16).

Cabrera became the second youngest Yankee to hit a ever walk-off home run when he did so on June 15, 2007; the youngest Yankee to do so was Mickey Mantle. On July 7, 2007, Cabrera tied a Yankees record by striking out five times in a single 13-inning game, a feat known as the platinum sombrero.

2008

Cabrera with the Yankees on May 17, 2008

Before the 2008 season began, Cabrera was involved in trade talks along with young pitching prospects Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes in exchange for starting pitcher Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins. (The New York Mets eventually acquired Santana.) Cabrera was involved in a bench-clearing brawl against the Tampa Bay Rays in a 2008 spring training pre-season game. MLB claimed to have seen video that showed Cabrera punching Rays third baseman Evan Longoria during the brawl. Cabrera was suspended two games, along with teammate Shelley Duncan, and third base coach Bobby Meacham and hitting coach Kevin Long were also fined for their actions in the brawl.

In 2008, Cabrera proved to be a less-than-adequate center fielder for the Yankees. His fielding and great arm could not make up for his poor hitting. In early August, Joe Girardi made Cabrera their fourth outfielder, making Johnny Damon the everyday center fielder. On August 15, 2008, the Yankees sent Cabrera back to their Class AAA affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

He was called up again to play on September 5, 2008.

2009

During Spring Training 2009, Cabrera changed his uniform number from #28 to #53, the same number he wore when he played in the Winter Leagues; Bobby Abreu, who had played for the Yankees from mid-2006 to 2008, had previously worn # 53. Cabrera competed with Brett Gardner for the starting center field job; Gardner won the job, but Joe Girardi announced his intention to use Cabrera as a backup. On April 22, 2009, Cabrera hit the first walk-off hit in the new Yankee Stadium, a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 14th inning, to help the Yankees win 9–7. By late April, due to Brett Gardner slumping, plus his own streak of stellar play, Cabrera retook the starting center field position. On May 15, He hit a walk off single to win the game 5-4. On May 23, Melky had another walk-off hit, this time a single driving Robinson Cano after Alex Rodriguez hit a two run home run to tie it. Melky played right field that day. On May 27, Melky attempted to catch a ball hit to the outfield. He collided with the center field wall in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. He injured his shoulder and was listed as day-to-day. On June 4, Melky hit a 2 run home run in the bottom of the eighth to break a 6-6 tie and it was eventually the winning hit. On June 9 it was announced that Melky Cabrera won the Major League Baseball Clutch Performer of the Month of May.

On August 2, 2009, Cabrera became the first Yankee to hit for the cycle since Tony Fernandez did it on September 3, 1995. The home run was his 10th of the season, which set a new personal high. He also collected his 200th career RBI in the game.

Personal life

His best friend is second baseman Robinson Cano. He also has one son.

Nicknames

• Chris Berman, known for giving nicknames to players, has given Cabrera the nickname "Melky Way" Cabrera. Yankees broadcaster John Sterling also uses this nickname.
• Sterling also uses the phrase, "the Melk Man always knocks twice" when referring to Cabrera, usually after Cabrera hits a home run.
• Cabrera's nickname around the Yankee clubhouse is "Leche," which is Spanish for "milk." When Cabrera records an RBI or makes a flashy defensive play the Yankee Stadium baseline scoreboards will flash "Tiene Leche?" ("Got Milk?")
• A popular Yankee T-shirt slogan reads "Got Melky?", a wordplay on the popular Got Milk? slogan. WFAN radio personality Steve Somers calls Cabrera Melky Mantle.
• Paul Barroca is the first person to invent the saying "The Milk Man Delivers" after meeting Melky in 2007.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
• Baseball America 2006 Prospect Handbook : The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects. Baseball America. 193239110X.
• Yankees promote prospect Cabrera
• Future's Now for an Heir Apparent
• Redding, Yanks roughed up by Sox
• New York Yankees transactions, July 2005