Most baseball players would miss the remainder of the season if told they had a torn hamstring on August 4. But somehow, Robinson Cano found a way to return to the Mets on September 3, less than one month after initially going down.
Not only has he made it back, but he’s now thriving as well.
Cano, 36, has registered a hit in every game he’s started since returning from the 10-day IL and is 8-for-18 (.444 average) with two home runs, one double, and four RBI in the process.
Tuesday night was another strong night for Cano as he went 2-for-3 with a double while scoring two of the Mets three runs in their victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks to put the Mets within three games of the second NL Wild Card spot.
The second baseman’s strong return to the team might be fueled from whatever changed a mere four days before he went down, as he went 9-for-15 with one homer, four doubles, and three RBI during a four-game stretch in August before going down.
In the second half, he’s also just been much better, hitting .317/.349/.624 with eight homers and 18 RBI as compared to a lowly .240/.287/.360 with four homers and 18 RBI in the first half.
Overall, he’s now hitting .262/.305/.437 with 12 homers and 36 RBI to give himself a 96 OPS+ and 0.2 bWAR on the year.
The second-half numbers are more of what the team expected and hoped for when they acquired him in the offseason.
While most fans will always be sore watching him and Edwin Diaz play for this team because of what they gave up to acquire the pair and justifiably so, Cano has actually been very good lately.
If the former New York Yankees’ star can continue playing the way he has lately down the stretch, his addition to the team could actually prove decisive as his bat has really altered the look of the lineup in a positive way for the Mets since he returned.
