Seattle Mariners All-Star Robinson Cano broke his hand after being hit by a pitch thrown by Detroit Tigers left-hander Blaine Hardy on Sunday. Cano is expected to miss 6-8 weeks of the season. The 2017 Latin Lord honoree has been an ironman throughout his 14-year career, playing every day game-in-and-game out. The future Hall of Famer has played at least 150 games in every season since 2007.
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Robinson Cano broke a bone in his right hand after being hit by a pitch on Sunday https://t.co/Wahg2GoOm4
He’s usually a workhorse, but his third stint on the disabled list comes at the worst time for Seattle who is just one game out of first place in the AL West and probably have the best team that theyve had since Cano left the mighty Yankees in 2014 and took $240 million to play in MLB obscurity.
The Seattle Mariners are looking to end baseball’s longest postseason drought, but losing Cano in the heart of a talented lineup definitely weakens their playoff hopes. Canos absence could be an opening for Dee Gordon to move back to second base where he once was an All-star performer for the Dodgers.
But replacing Cano is impossible. Even as he ages, few players can provide his power at the position. Cano has the second most home runs by any second baseman since the start of 2015 with a minimum of 50 percent of games played at second base.
Brian Dozier is first with 111, Cano has 87 and Rougned Odor has 79. Cano’s 305 career bombs is good for second all-time among MLB second baseman and he maintains a sterling .304 career batting average.