The New Ichiro?

[PolarVortex]

Comparisons between ichiro and Cano are disturbing

Both control/controlled about the same percentage of the team payroll.
Both are/were the face of the franchise for position players (along with Felix for the pitching staff).
Ichiro averaged 43 extra base hits a year during his prime. Cano is on pace for 42.
Both are/were a guarantee for 200 hits. Cano is currently on pace for 203.
Both are/were outstanding defensive players.
Both are/were allstars.

The primary difference? Cano embraces leadership while Ichiro avoided it. I wonder how much longer Cano will be motivated to provide leadership if payroll doesn't increase and team performance does not improve?

 

[dude82]

Comparisons between ichiro and Cano are disturbing

Both control/controlled about the same percentage of the team payroll.
Both are/were the face of the franchise for position players (along with Felix for the pitching staff).
Ichiro averaged 43 extra base hits a year during his prime. Cano is on pace for 42.
Both are/were a guarantee for 200 hits. Cano is currently on pace for 203.
Both are/were outstanding defensive players.
Both are/were allstars.

The primary difference? Cano embraces leadership while Ichiro avoided it. I wonder how much longer Cano will be motivated to provide leadership if payroll doesn't increase and team performance does not improve?

Cano has more power and the homeruns will come. A lot of people said Ichiro could hit a homerun whenever he wanted, but that was never a big part of his game. Cano has averaged 28 homers a year for the past five seasons. I would be shocked if he had less than 20 by the end of this season.

 

[navamind]

Cano has more power and the homeruns will come. A lot of people said Ichiro could hit a homerun whenever he wanted, but that was never a big part of his game. Cano has averaged 28 homers a year for the past five seasons. I would be shocked if he had less than 20 by the end of this season.

It's not the first time Cano's had a power outage. He batted .267/.323/.389 with 1 home run in April 2012. He ended up hitting 48 doubles, 1 triple, 33 home runs and had the highest ISO of his career.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Other than the facts that Cano's career slugging percentage is 87 points higher and that he plays the more valuable defensive position the two are nearly the same guy. Seems to me more accurate to say that "comparing the two is disturbing" than it is that the "comparisons are disturbing".

 

[cezero]

Pitchers don't have to give Cano much to drive. He's surrounded by garbage, so why would they?

It's actually pretty great that his numbers are as good as they are. I was glad when he started to take his walks rather than try to drive pitches off the plate. He can only do so much.

And any comparison between Cano and Ichiro on any level is idiotic.

 

[PolarVortex]

Other than the facts that Cano's career slugging percentage is 87 points higher and that he plays the more valuable defensive position the two are nearly the same guy. Seems to me more accurate to say that "comparing the two is disturbing" than it is that the "comparisons are disturbing".

His slugging poercentage isn't 87 points higher this year. when it is, then you can say I told you so. But as of right now, after moving from an extreme hitter's park to an extreme pitcher's park, I'd say that he is not a guarantee to lift his slugging percentage to career norms.

 

[PolarVortex]

Cano has more power and the homeruns will come.

People keep saying that. We are a quarter way through the season already. It would be nice to starting seeing it. Any time now, Robby.

 

[navamind]

And even then, Cano has a 123 OPS+ right now. League average at 2B is 95.

And Cano has a 2.6% HR/FB rate right now. It's way out of line with previous years. That can only go up.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3269&position=2B#battedball

 

[TDs3nOut]

His slugging poercentage isn't 87 points higher this year. when it is, then you can say I told you so. But as of right now, after moving from an extreme hitter's park to an extreme pitcher's park, I'd say that he is not a guarantee to lift his slugging percentage to career norms.

You are certainly right about that. Nothing is guaranteed in sports. I still wouldn't bet against Cano mashing in Seattle, though.

 

[EVille3]

People keep saying that. We are a quarter way through the season already. It would be nice to starting seeing it. Any time now, Robby.

I take it you didn't see the 3 balls he hit this week that missed a HR by about a combined foot? Weather is warming up and so will his power numbers. As of now, his .318 avg with no protection is quiet impressive...

 

[seahawksfan234]

People keep saying that. We are a quarter way through the season already. It would be nice to starting seeing it. Any time now, Robby.

I don't see why the power numbers wouldn't go up. It is pretty surprising that he only has one home run so far though. You have to give Cano credit for hitting .318 in the Mariners lineup though.

Here is a pretty good USSMariner article on Cano's power outage:

So You?re Waiting For Robinson Cano To Hit Dingers | U.S.S. Mariner

 

[Logicallylethal]

Both players bat left handed, both players can hit for avg, both players don't k much and both players have played for the Mariners. But that's as far as the comparisons go.

Cano has only had over 200 hits twice in his entire career. Ichiro had over 200 hits for 10 years in a row. Ichiro has only had double digit hrs in 3 years for his entire career. Cano has had double digit hrs every year since entering the league. Lastly Cano has had a slug % over .500 six times. Ichiro has never had a slug % higher than .457

There is no comparison. Both Cano and Ichiro are great in their own way, but they are different players

 

[NWinAZ]

Watching Cano slapping singles around has caused me to call him the more expensive Ichiro many times. I get the point. You can't use Yankee stats to compare him to Mariner Ichiro and you can't use 'when he' stats either.

I liked Ichiro, but not at $18M for slapping singles around and I like Cano but not for $24M per for doing the same. I have never understood that, but I understand why Mariners did it both times. It's business over baseball.

 

[wazzu31]

As long as the M's don't need extra security in the clubhouse to keep players from trying to kick Cano's ass then he's fine.

 

[cezero]

Watching Cano slapping singles around has caused me to call him the more expensive Ichiro many times. I get the point. You can't use Yankee stats to compare him to Mariner Ichiro and you can't use 'when he' stats either.

Ichiro's were a choice.

Cano isn't getting a lot to hit. At the beginning of the season through the entire month of April, he was trying to hit too much off the plate for power to compensate for the trash around him, and he finally realized it wasn't going to work.

It's why after K'ing 16 times in April, he's only K'd 5 times in May. I remember hearing an interview with McClendon where he said that he had to talk with Cano about not trying to do too much with pitches that just aren't drive-able.

I agree completely with what you said about Ichiro and Cano being more about business than winning...which sadly have little to do with each other with Nintendo.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Ichiro's were a choice.

Cano isn't getting a lot to hit. At the beginning of the season through the entire month of April, he was trying to hit too much off the plate for power to compensate for the trash around him, and he finally realized it wasn't going to work.

It's why after K'ing 16 times in April, he's only K'd 5 times in May. I remember hearing an interview with McClendon where he said that he had to talk with Cano about not trying to do too much with pitches that just aren't drive-able.

I agree completely with what you said about Ichiro and Cano being more about business than winning...which sadly have little to do with each other with Nintendo.

It does appear as if Cano has made adjustments since April. In April he was hitting 59% ground balls, 22% fly balls and 19% line drives. In May those numbers are 44%, 31% and 25% respectively. It is also worth noting he hit .296/.346/.378 (AVG/OBP/SLG) in March/April, so far he is hitting .347/.392/.444 in May. I expect the HRs will come.

 

[dude82]

People keep saying that. We are a quarter way through the season already. It would be nice to starting seeing it. Any time now, Robby.

The reason people keep saying that is because he has a track record of hitting homeruns. Ichiro, on the other hand, did not. For the same reason I never freaked out when Ichiro would start a season hitting in the .200's, I'm not going to freak out that Cano has started this season with one homerun in the first six weeks. I'm not saying that it wouldn't be nice if he had more than one homerun right now, but I'm not going to panic just because he doesn't. Ichiro's track record suggested that he would end each season with a .300+ average and over 200 hits, and Cano's track record suggests that he's going to hit homeruns, get lots of extra base hits and hit for a good average. Until he fails to do that for an entire season with the Mariners, I see no reason to doubt that he will.

 

[NWinAZ]

Ichiro's were a choice.

Cano isn't getting a lot to hit. At the beginning of the season through the entire month of April, he was trying to hit too much off the plate for power to compensate for the trash around him, and he finally realized it wasn't going to work.

I have to disagree with this because I have watched every game and just about every one of his AB's and I really don't see teams pitching around him. They try to jam him which may be his weakness, but he gets opportunities and just doesn't drive a lot of the pitches. Will he increase his power numbers throughout the year? I think he will, but at this point I see the similarities. I think Ichiro could have hit 20 homers a year if he tried and he would have went from .350 to .310.

 

[cezero]

I have to disagree with this because I have watched every game and just about every one of his AB's and I really don't see teams pitching around him. They try to jam him which may be his weakness, but he gets opportunities and just doesn't drive a lot of the pitches. Will he increase his power numbers throughout the year? I think he will, but at this point I see the similarities. I think Ichiro could have hit 20 homers a year if he tried and he would have went from .350 to .310.

When Cano gets ahead in the count, he sees a much smaller percentage of pitches in the strike zone than he did surrounded by pro hitters in pinstripes. There's a reason for that.

Not sure how else I can explain it.

 

[NWinAZ]

I am just saying that isn't the case. Just like tonight, he walked once and was thrown 3 or more strikes on every AB. His first out was a 2nd pitch ball at his shoulders he chased. His singles were all on balls he could drive and just didn't. Not complaining about him hitting .320+, but just saying he hits like Ichiro w/o the base stealing ability. For me he is a $15M per player. If I had to spend $24M per on a player, it would be Cabrera or Trout who can influence a game in many ways and with power.