The New York Yankees have had issues trusting young players in recent seasons.
They prefer to look for stopgap veterans to make sure these rookies are not exposed.
It’s what happened with shortstop Oswald Peraza, particularly in the playoffs: he showed he was ready for primetime, at least as a defender, but the Yankees preferred to give Isiah Kiner-Falefa ample playing time opportunities instead of Peraza.
However, shortstop Oswaldo Cabrera was a rare exception.
Mostly because he played mostly everywhere else besides shortstop, Cabrera earned himself a chance with some strong minor league numbers.
After a successful second-half run, Yankees fans are now eager to see what he can do over a full campaign.
“Excited to see what this dude is gonna do in his first full MLB season,” Talkin’ Yanks tweeted, while sharing an Instagram post of Cabrera thanking everybody that helped him break through with the Yanks in 2022, including fans.
Excited to see what this dude is gonna do in his first full MLB season pic.twitter.com/aUUW5smslU
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) October 31, 2022
In fact, it’s very exciting for Yankees fans to see what they have in Cabrera over the course of a full season.
A Roller-Coaster Season For Cabrera
His 2022 was filled with highs and lows.
He started the year in Triple-A in poor form and then hurt himself.
Upon returning, he caught fire and earned an MLB callup by virtue of his .262/.340/.492 line with eight home runs and a 118 wRC+ (100 is average) in 208 Triple-A plate appearances.
He took a few weeks to adjust to MLB pitching, but was a solid regular after figuring things out: he hit .247/.312/.429 with six homers and a 11 wRC+ in 171 MLB trips to the plate.
He cooled off in the playoffs, but the overall sample was enough to get excited about Cabrera for 2023.
He can boast an above-average bat with versatility to play second base, shortstop, third base, and both outfield corners.
That’s a very good player right there.
The 2023 campaign could represent consolidation for him.
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