Robinson Cano and his Rough 2015 Season

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Jun 5, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano (22) spits after grounding out to end the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports

Slump or A Decline?

Robinson Cano is a professional hitter, and at 32-years-old, you would like to think that the second baseman still has better days ahead. But with some of the things that I have seen, I am not sold that this is just a “slump”. I know he’s been hitting .304 in his past seven games. While that is certainly good to see, all of his hits in this Astros series have been to the pull side. And because of that I think he has a real problem here, as he isn’t able to extend his hands and take the ball the other way.

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What is even more confusing is the fact that pitchers aren’t pitching him any differently than they did last year. Last year, he got a fastball 62.8% of the time, and an off-speed pitch the other 37.2% of the time. This year, he is getting a fastball a little less at 61.6% of the time, and an off-speed pitch 38.4% of the time. What this tells me is that pitchers aren’t really attacking him with anything different, or something that he didn’t see last year. So that means that you can solely pin these struggles on Cano and his swing, and the “holes” in his swing that are emerging as I touched on in this article.

I’m still not ready to deem this the start of a major decline, but I think that in order for Cano to turn it around, he’s going to have to find his inside out swing and shoot some balls the other way. When Cano starts taking pitches the other way and hitting them with power to left field, that’s when I think you’ll really start to see Cano go on a tear. If he can do that, and get himself going, then lookout, because this team could be something special.

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