Jim Leyland: Miguel Cabrera can be as effective at third base – MLB News
In an interview with a leading baseball website, Jim Leyland stated that he is convinced Miguel Cabrera has the skills and abilities to succeed at the challenging third base position. Leyland confirmed that Cabrera will be playing third base for the Tigers this season.
Cabrera, who displayed some high quality hitting skills in 2011, has been asked to perform third baseman duties this season. The Tigers made this move after their designated hitter Victor Martinez went out for the entire season due to a serious knee injury.
Although the role is a new one for Cabrera, he wants to show the world that he can play third base. Cabrera is confident of giving decent results by improving his defensive game play.
Even though many baseball writers and analysts believe that Cabrera is not the ideal man for the job, Jim Leyland has other ideas.
"Everybody is all hung up on what he looks like and the fact he's heavy," Leyland said. "Sure, I want him to lose a little bit of weight, but I'll tell you what, not too much."
"When you get conscious of your weight, you can lose strength along with weight. You can lose some self-confidence, too, and maybe you don't perform as well. That's no good. Trucks were spitting stuff up." Leyland further added. "It was rainy; it was foggy. It was brutal the whole way, including some spots where it was a whiteout."
Leyland is confident that Cabrera will not let the Tigers down. Although he wants Cabrera to lose a little bit of weight, he doesn’t want him to lose too much of his weight as it can have a negative effect on his strength. According to Leyland, being heavy and bulky can work in player’s favour sometimes.
The Tigers have made quite a few changes to their batting and pitching lineup this season. With the addition of Prince Fielder, the Tigers are one of the strongest contenders for the World Series title. Jim Leyland will be looking to manage the team to the best of his ability to let Dave Dombrowski achieve his goals.
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