More Miguel Madness
By Blake VandeBunte • Oct 19th, 2008 • Category: Miguel CabreraWhen the Tigers made their trade for Miguel Cabrera the organization was making a trade for one of the best young sluggers in the game. While Cabrera, and his big contract extension, got off to a slow start in a Tigers uniform he turned it on midway through the year and put up some monster numbers. Since 2004 in his first full season, Cabrera has consistently been among the top performers in all of baseball.
Just for kicks, here’s where Cabrera ranks amongst all players in the following stats since 2004:
- Home Runs: 163, 11th place
- RBI: 588, 5th place
- Hits: 938, 7th place
- Doubles: 198, 5th place
- AVG: .313, 9th place
- OPS: .934, 13th place
- OPS+: 144, 9th place
- Runs Created: 626, 6th place
This post is one of those posts that I got the idea for before I did any research. I honestly did not think his stats were going to be this impressive. Probably the most impressive thing about Cabrera’s rankings above is that he’s by far the youngest player on the lists. The only other player who comes anywhere near Cabrera in terms of age and production is Grady Sizemore.
One of the other impressive aspects of this list, and of Cabrera’s game, is that he is not just a power hitter. While he has the extra base power shown in all of the homers and doubles, he also is ranked highly in batting average and hits. A lot of power hitters (ie, Ryan Howard and David Ortiz) just don’t pick up many hits in addition to the homers. Cabrera is a terrific hitter who can change a game by crushing a homer to the opposite field or taking what the pitcher gives him by singling up the middle. There’s something to be said for that.
Now I’m going to take this look at his numbers a step further; I’m going to see where Cabrera ranks in the history of the game. Cabrera is a unique talent in many ways, but part of what makes him so unique is that he has been so good at such a young age. Cabrera turned 25 this past April, so here is where Cabrera ranks in the history of the game in the following stats before reaching the age of 26:
- Home Runs: 175, 13th place. Of the twelve players in front of him eight of them are in the Hall of Fame. The other four are Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, Ken Griffey Jr., and Albert Pujols. Pretty good company (with the exception of Jones, of course).
- RBI: 650, 8th place. Again, he is behind five Hall of Famers here. The other two guys he trails are Alex Rodriguez and Hal Trosky. Trosky was putting together a great career before World War II.
- OPS+: 140, 20th place. Of the 19 players ahead of Cabrera on this list, 14 of them are now in the Hall of Fame. Are you getting the point of this little exercise? Cabrera is an absolute beast and has had about as a good a start as anyone in the history of the game.
I will admit, I’ve had some doubts about Cabrera’s conditioning. I have also had some doubts about his ability as a defensive player. Going over the numbers here has helped lessen my worries. Really the only player on any of the above lists who has not enjoyed a long and productive career all the way through was Andruw Jones.
With Cabrera on the payroll through 2015 this will either go really well for the Tigers or really badly, I don’t see how there will be much of an in between. The nice thing though is that history tells us it will probably all work out. Now if the Tigers could just get some pitching.
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Good work again Blake. To me in a Tigers’ history of players, Cabrera is a combination of Greenberg and Heilmann. Good average and power, doubles, homeruns, and rbi.
He is also at his age, compared to Hank Aaron and I think Frank Robinson at baseball reference without the speed of the latter two. The big thing for Miguel Cabrera of course, is his 1, ability to stay healthy, and 2, ability to keep his weight at an optimal weight level for success offensive and defensively.
Thanks Ron. I agree with you 100% that the only thing likely to slow Cabrera down will be his health. If he can keep himself in shape and focused on baseball he should be a serious force for the next decade or so. I’m pretty nervous to see what he looks like when he reports to spring training this February. Gives me something to worry about.