As things currently stand, the New York Yankees will be forced to use Oswaldo Cabrera as a regular player.
That’s not a bad thing at all, in case you were wondering: the 2022 rookie hit .247/.312/.429 with six home runs, a 111 wRC+ (100 is considered league-average offensive performance), and 1.5 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in just 44 games.
He started off slowly once he was called up from Triple-A in August, but once he got up to speed and got familiarized with major league pitching, he turned into a beast.
Cabrera is an extremely valuable chip for the Yankees not only because he can be an above-average MLB hitter, but also because of his defensive versatility.
“Oswaldo Cabrera is truly an absolute beast defensively, regardless of where he plays. 4 DRS in the IF (SS, 2B, 3B); 3 OAA in the IF, 9 DRS in the OF, 1 OAA in the OF. 90th percentile for his arm,” Fireside Yankees tweeted.
Oswaldo Cabrera is truly an absolute beast defensively, regardless of where he plays.
4 DRS in the IF (SS, 2B, 3B)
3 OAA in the IF9 DRS in the OF
1 OAA in the OF90th percentile for his arm pic.twitter.com/MpcScVcwM8
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) January 4, 2023
Those numbers are excellent.
OAA, which means Outs Above Average, is Statcast’s go-to defensive metric to evaluate fielding performance.
The other conventional tool to evaluate fielding is DRS, or Defensive Runs Saved.
As it turns out, Cabrera excels at both metrics.
He is an excellent infielder, and his arm makes him an above-average outfielder as well.
The Yankees currently have Aaron Hicks, but they will be better off if they just plug in Cabrera there and don’t look back.
He not only has a higher floor, but his ceiling is also significantly greater than that of Hicks.
They would lose his defensive versatility, but will gain some certainty by using Cabrera as a regular in left field.
NEXT: The Yankees Have Had A Historic Rise In Value