Robinson Cano
Age: 24 Years Old (Turns 25 in October). (If you see this and don't get a smile on your face, there might be something wrong with the Yankees portion of your brain.)

Three-Year History, three-year splits and last year's splits.

SEASON Team G AB H 1B 2B 3B HR R RBI BB SO SB CS AVG
2005 Yankees 132 522 155 103 34 4 14 78 62 16 68 1 3 .297
2006 Yankees 122 482 165 108 41 1 15 62 78 18 54 5 2 .342
2007 Bill James 149 557 181 117 44 3 17 80 83 23 60 4 2 .325
2007 CHONE   522 163 106 37 3 17 66 75 27 63 3 2 .312
2007 Marcel   476 153 101 35 2 15 69 70 23 62 4 2 .321
2007 ZiPS   568 179 117 41 3 18 81 97 24 68 3 2 .315

SEASON Team BB% K% BB/K OBP SLG OPS ISO BABIP
2005 Yankees 3.0 % 13.0 % 0.24 .320 .458 .778 .161 .320
2006 Yankees 3.6 % 11.2 % 0.33 .365 .525 .890 .183 .363
2007 Bill James 4.0 % 10.8 % 0.38 .354 .506 .860 .181 .342
2007 CHONE 4.9 % 12.1 % 0.43 .350 .492 .842 .180 .330
2007 Marcel 4.6 % 13.0 % 0.37 .354 .498 .852 .176 .346
2007 ZiPS 4.1 % 12.0 % 0.35 .343 .493 .836 .178 .334

Outlook: After a 2005 season where Cano finsihed second in the Rookie of the Year voting, expectations were mixed as to what he could provide the Yankees on a consistent basis. His minor league track record was somewhat erratic, and though he had made several strides in his the higher levels, Bryan Smith over at Baseball Analysts didn't expect much.

Cano is another player that I obviously underrated too much as a prospect, not taking his 100 RBI+ season into enough consideration. But, really, is Cano's ceiling much above his performance in 2005? Do we really see a player that even has the possibility to be better than Weeks? Not for me, at least, as I believe Cano will teeter-totter among being an average second baseman for as long as the Yanks let him.

For the first two months of the year, Cano was fulfilling that prediction, hitting a fairly empty .293 with 13 base-hits (11 doubles). Then in June, apparently something clicked and he took off, pasting opposing pitchers to the tune of .398/.432/.566/.998 and taking his OPS from .701 to .792. Unfortunately, in the midst of this hot streak, he strained his left hamstring and missed six weeks of playing time. Luckily, when he returned, he didn't skip a beat, absolutely tattooing everything in sight and putting up a monstrous .365/.380/.635/1.015 after the ASB. It was truly something to watch as seemingly everything that came off Cano's bat was hit hard. Robbie was an All-Star, won the Silver Slugger at 2B and even got some MVP consideration (22nd) and took over the title of best hitting second baseman in the AL. As for his defense, how good it is can be argued amongst fans but he was certainly better last year than he was in his first year. If he can keep up what he showed last year, I really doubt anyone will be complaining.

Of course, there are some questions still to be answered as Robbie goes into this season. While he was on fire for 3 full months last season, there are still some people who want to see how consistently good he can be. Also, he has struggled in his career against lefties (.278/.315/.365/.680 versus lefties and .334/.352/.538/.890 against righties) and on the road (.283/.307/.443/.750 at home, .349 /.371/.529/.900 on the road) and any adjustments he can make in both these areas will be closely watched. Still, this is just nit-picking when you think about it; he's improved in both those areas since his first year and any other team would take Cano in a heartbeat. Luckily, it's Yankees fans who have the pleasure of seeing a talented, home-grown product mature on the field and it seems the question is no longer whether Cano can be a good player, but just how good can he ultimately be?

Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:

AB R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG