Yankees Player of the Week: April 8-14
The BronxPinstripes.com Player of the Week for week 2 of the 2013 season is Robinson Cano, and how appropriate that he is selected today on Jackie Robinson Day. After all, he is named after the Brooklyn Dodger great. Cano also wears numbers 24 in honor of Jackie Robinson (inverse of 42).
After a slow first week of the season, he finished this past week with a .500 batting average, 3 home runs, 8 RBI's, and 4 doubles. In total, Cano belted 14 hits with 2 walks, good for a .542 OBP, 1.091 SLG, and an incredible 1.633 OPS. As Yankees fans, we have come to expect this sort of production from Cano day in, day out. The Dominican Republic MVP of the 2013 World Baseball Classic has finally made the trip up north to join the Yankees, and he has done so in an MLB MVP kind of way. Obviously it's way to early to throw out MVP talks, but Cano is locked in and poised for a huge season.
Cano's best day of the week was on Tuesday, April 9th. He went 4-for-6 at the plate, with 5 RBI's, 2 runs scored, along with his first home run of the season. Thanks to Robinson's huge week at the plate, and most of the starting pitchers finding their form, the Yankees rebounded from 2-4 record in the 1st week of the season, the finish week 2 in 2nd place in the AL East with a 6-5 record. Taking a look at the other side, Cano's defense has continued to be flawless. It should also be noted that on Saturday, Francisco Cervelli played second base, while Cano made his major league debut at shortstop for an inning after manager Joe Girardi pinch-hit Brennan Boesch for Jayson Nix in the 8th inning. Unfortunately, Cano had no chances in the top of the 9th to show us what he's got.
Do you agree with Robinson Cano being selected as the Yankees Player of the Week for Week 2? If you could pick someone else on the team, who would you pick? Who do you think will be the Yankees Player of the Week in Week 3? Please leave your comments below.
Honorable Mention:
Hiroki Kuroda (2 W; 14.1 IP; CG Shutout; 1.88 ERA; 0.98 WHIP)
C.C. Sabathia (1 W; 8 IP; 1.13 ERA; 1.00 WHIP)
Andy Pettitte (1 W; 7 IP; 1.29 ERA; 1.14 WHIP)
Brett Gardner (.350 BA; 1 HR; 5 RBI; 5 R)
Francisco Cervelli (.417 BA; .563 OBP; 4 BB; 6 R)