You figure that Robinson Cano signing with another team would stop the talk from New York about him not hustling down the line on routine ground balls, but nope, it’s still a hot topic. John Harper of the Daily News has an interview with Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long about it today.
What’s striking to me is how much Long says to praise Cano and his work ethic. He talks about how he got in better shape, got a better attitude, put in hard work and did all sorts of things like extra cage work and training and stuff to make himself a better player with the Yankees. Yet the one thing that probably matters least in his game -- appearing to run hard, or not, to first base on routine 4-3 putouts -- is the thing Long, Harper and a host of other people in the Yankees Universe like to dwell on. Harper goes so far as to say it “taints” Cano’s brilliance.
I can see how it may be aesthetically annoying, but I really don’t get why people care so much. There is no hustle more false than the hustle to first on routine outs. At least when it comes from a big slugging superstar like Cano. Maybe once every 100 times not hustling down the line may cost him a base, but it’s probably also worth noting that Cano is the one dude in the Yankees lineup who hasn’t missed significant time to injury over the past several seasons.
I’ll take that mild annoyance over a pulled hamstring on a play where he was going to be out by 20 feet every time.