The calendar has flipped to December, which means a few things. Sure, the holidays are officially here and there’s Christmas music being played literally everywhere for the immediate future, but for the New York Mets, they received an early present from the Seattle Mariners. They’ll also be getting the same gift from them at the same time until 2022:

I’m not so sure it’s a true gift at this particular time given the rough 2019 Robinson Cano went through between injuries and a lack of production in the first half. However, it could be worse — the Mets could’ve been on the hook for all of the second baseman’s contract.

With this in mind and the near certainty that Cano will be New York’s starting second baseman on Opening Day, it’s important to find positives in his play from so we can hold onto some kind of hope that the 37-year-old can rebound in the upcoming campaign. This is especially the case since it doesn’t appear Brodie Van Wagenen will be making any big splashes to help his squad take a step forward in the National League East.

Overall, Cano’s year in Queens was less than riveting. Injuries limited the typically-durable veteran to just 107 games played (423 plate appearances), while his .736 OPS, 93 wRC+, and 0.8 fWAR were all the worst numbers he’s produced since 2008 with the New York Yankees (.715, 86, and 0.1, respectively). In the spirit of looking for positives, though, Cano’s post-All-Star break performance (.880 OPS, 126 wRC+ in 165 plate appearances) was head-and-shoulders above what he did in the first half (.646 OPS, 72 wRC+ in 258 plate appearances).

Despite the drastically different sample sizes, there were a couple areas where he improved in order for his numbers to spike.

Improved Batted-Ball Profile

Cano’s season-long hard-hit rate remained at a high level when compared to the rest of his career. He finished with a 38.0% mark in 2019, which was the second consecutive year it was that high (41.0% in ’18). The only other time he posted a hard-hit rate that high in consecutive years came in 2012 and 2013 with the Yankees (38.1% and 38.5%).

However, the difference between those years and even the 2018 season stood in his soft-hit rate. Cano kept that number at 12.0% and 12.2% during that two-year span in the Bronx, and even had it dip down to 11.3% in ’18 with Seattle. This past year with the Mets, though? It went up to 17.6%.

When breaking down his performance into two halves, Cano at least slightly improved his soft-hit rate despite seeing a drop in hard-hit rate. Here’s how the rest of his batted-ball profile stacks up between the first and second half.

Not pictured in the above table was also an improved pull rate, which went from 31.3% prior to the All-Star break to 40.3% following the midsummer classic.

One of the big changes in Cano’s stats was his power — his ISO went from .120 all the way up to .257. Obviously, having a lift in line-drive rate that’s coupled with a drop in ground-ball rate is a good sign. And even though the change in his fly-ball rate wasn’t as significant as other areas of his batted-ball profile, watching it increase while simultaneously decreasing his infield-fly rate was crucial in experiencing success, which included more than doubling high season-long home-run total (four in the first half, nine in the second half).

Improved Plate Discipline

A usual byproduct of an improved batted-ball profile is better plate discipline, and this situation is no different. The second baseman’s 53.4% season-long swing rate was among the highest in baseball for hitters with 400-plus plate appearances, and there wasn’t much of a change in that category from the first half (53.4%) to the second half (53.3%). His contact rate also only went up about three percentage points. What was important to see here, though, was the breakdown within those overall numbers.

Here’s a look at how Cano’s chase rate and swing rate on strikes progressed throughout the year, along with the corresponding contact rates.

In both cases, Cano’s overall swing rate and contact rate would tell us not a ton changed, but the above numbers show the positive shifts that took place. If we look at hitters with at least 150 second-half plate appearances, the rate Cano put together ranked within the top 10. Contact rate in the strike zone doesn’t necessarily guarantee offensive success, but he experienced some in a significant way despite a drop in hard-hit rate.

These changes also resulted in much better walk and strikeout numbers for the 37-year-old. Being a generally more aggressive hitter, his walk rate didn’t see much of a change, although it still went in the right direction (5.4% to 6.7%). It was his strikeout rate that saw a much more significant change, going from 18.2% to 13.3%. Making a lot more contact inside the strike zone certainly helps.

Looking Ahead

Whether we like it or not, Cano is going to be starting at second base for the Mets in 2020 unless something drastic and unexpected happens. Based on the emergences of Jeff McNeil and J.D. Davis, along with Jed Lowrie‘s presence (even if he was barely visible in 2019), it’s a bummer because there isn’t enough playing time to go around if everyone remains healthy.

That could change if Cano continues dealing with nagging injuries like he did this past season. Clearly, one has to imagine that the Mets are also thinking about that a little bit after being Josh Harrison‘s second choice before he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

There were at least some positive signs from New York’s incumbent starting second baseman after a disastrous start to his tenure in Queens, and he has the peripheral stats to back it up. Now he just needs to stay on the field and put it all together again.