When the Mets signed Asdrubal Cabrera this past offseason to a two-year $18.5 million deal with an option for a third year, not too many people thought much of it.
Some went on to complain that it was an unnecessary signing and the Mets should have just used the money to secure Yoenis Cespedes at the time. Cabrera has had a second half for the Mets that would only rival something that we believed Cespedes himself could do.
August Fagerstrom of MLB.com broke down how truly great Cabrera has been for this team.
Since returning from the Disabled List, Cabrera has posted a .366/.427/.687 over 150 plate appearances to go along with a .321 isolated slugging percentage and a 197 wRC+. Cabrera has been one of the best in the league during this time.
With the drastic difference in numbers, the author thought to compare Cabrera’s recent run to the success Daniel Murphy had in 2015 and again showing this season. Fagerstorm found that like Murphy, Cabrera has increased his pull rate.
Cabrera’s pull rate has gone from 48 percent to 52 percent and since coming off the DL, this number has increased to 54 percent. The compliment to the number is Cabrera’s ground ball rate which has decreased from 40.1 percent to 31.3 percent as the power numbers have increased.
Possibly the biggest culprit though to the recent success in batting has been how close he now stands to home plate at each at-bat. As Murphy advised he did last season, Cabrera has moved closer to the plate as well, helping him to pull more fly balls than he ever was previously able to, contributing to the increase in homers hit.
Overall on the season, Cabrera has put together great numbers. He has posted a .281/.337/.479 batting line to go alone with 23 homers and 61 RBI.
It’s hard not to wonder where this team may be without Cabrera, who has helped to carry an offense that no one ever expected him to.
