Friday, March 18, 2011

Kevin Long Has Big Plans For Robbie Cano

Yankee hitting instructor extraordinaire, Kevin Long, is either quite full of himself or delusional in his optimism for Robinson Cano. Or he's a super genius. Cano is coming off of his best season in 2010 finishing third in the AL MVP voting. It was a monster season by all accounts for a second baseman as he hit 29 home runs and put up a .320/.381/.534 line. But Long apparently thinks Cano is capable of 40 jacks...
"I wouldn't be surprised if Cano hit 40 home runs," Long said. "He hit 29; could he hit 40? Why not? It's a big number - and not something that's a goal - but could he do it? I don't think there's anybody standing here that thinks he can't."

Asked if he thought he could go deep 40 times this season, Cano laughed and answered quickly.

"No chance; maybe if you put an extra half-season," Cano said. "To be honest, that's not in my mind. I don't think I'm a home run hitter; most of my home runs are line drives. I don't want that kind of thing in my mind. If I hit it, thank God, but it's not on my mind."
Well, PECOTA is more inclined to believe Cano than Long projecting a bit of a regression for the second bagger. It has Cano coming back to Earth a little bit hitting a mere 20 homers and a .300/.346/.476 line which would still make many teams jealous. But if Cano hits 40 bombs, Long needs a raise.

If you're wondering why I'm writing a post about a hitting coach, it's because I now have a horse in this race. Brandon Wood reached out to Kevin Long for hitting advice this off season and I recently flushed some cash down a toilet to sponsor his Baseball-Reference page.

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