Miguel Cabrera, the reigning American League most valuable player and Triple Crown winner of one year ago, is not only maintaining his production from a year ago; he's actually exceeding it.
In 42 games and 197 plate appearances, Cabrera is topping all of baseball in batting average (.383) and RBI (47). He has 11 home runs after socking three last night against the Texas Rangers, which places him tied for seventh in MLB with Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals and Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers.
From April through May last season, Cabrera was hitting .314 with nine home runs and 42 RBI. His on base percentage was .369, and his on base plus slugging stood at .889. In 2013, every single one of those numbers is up and the month of May hasn't even ended. The biggest jump has been in on base percentage; he's getting on base at a .457 clip these days.
Although the Rangers survived Cabrera's three-homer binge, count Rangers manager Ron Washington among the MVP's admirers. "I've never seen a guy that puts the bat head on the ball as regular as he does, and on all pitches," Washington said. "He's just a tremendous hitter. I'm very happy that he's headed to the airport." Tigers manager Jim Leyland chimed in, saying "Miggy never ceases to amaze you."
The key to Cabrera's seemingly impossible escalation in hitting has been a drop in his ground ball percentage, as well as an uptick in his line drive percentage. While he is picking up his home run pace, his home run to fly ball ratio is not exceptionally high; he is flat-out squaring the ball up better than ever and smacking liners, some of which are leaving the park.
Even though his defense at third base still dogs him, there is no doubt that Cabrera is the frontrunner right now to capture a second consecutive MVP award.
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