Living a Balanced Life
By: Pittsburgh Pirates
Tags: Sports, Baseball, Major League Baseball, Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh

Photo Credit: Dave Arrigo

Veteran Outfielder Melky Cabrera At Peace Professionally, Personally

by Jim Lachimia

Melky Cabrera lives his life in two worlds that are very different from each other, and he loves both. He cherishes every moment that he gets to spend in both. Together, those two worlds bring balance to his life and make him a happy and fulfilled person at age 34.

There’s his professional world, his public world, as professional baseball player. Fourteen-plus years into his major league career, he’s in his first season as a member of the Pirates. In that world he’s surrounded by men — his coaches and teammates. He travels with them, practices with them, competes with them, and works with them toward a common goal — winning a World Series championship.

There’s also his family world, his private world, as a husband and a father. In that world he’s surrounded by females — his wife Johana and four daughters: Diana (age nine), Kaylee (eight), Meilanny (six) and Mianna (one). The only drawback Cabrera sees to what he does for a living is that it requires him to be away from his wife and children more than he would like to be. So, in addition to working hard to provide for them, he spends quality time with them and shows them love as often as he possibly can.

The Pirates are the eighth major league team that Cabrera, a switch-hitting outfielder, has played for. The first was the New York Yankees, who signed him as a non-drafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic as a 17-year-old in 2001. In addition to the Yankees (2005–2009), Cabrera has performed for the Atlanta Braves (2010), Kansas City Royals (2011 & 2017), San Francisco Giants (2012), Toronto Blue Jays (2013–2014), Chicago White Sox (2015–2017) and Cleveland Indians (2018).

The nomadic existence of moving from team to team and city to city can be difficult, but Cabrera considers the chance to continue to play the game that he loves so much a blessing no matter where his career takes him.

“A lot of guys dream about retiring with the team they started with, but I’ve seen the value of playing for a lot of different teams,” he said. “It’s been a great experience. It’s given me 14 years in the big leagues, and hopefully more. Eight organizations have trusted me to be a part of their team and help them in any way I can. Moving from one team to another and one city to another has its challenges, but I remain grateful to all of those teams for providing me with the opportunity to play this great game.”

Pittsburgh signed Cabrera as a minor league free agent shortly before spring training began back in February, and he made the 25-man Opening Day roster as a bench player. Injuries to Corey Dickerson and Lonnie Chisenhall opened the door for him to play more often than expected. And he did that, batting an impressive .337 (32-for-95) in his first 30 games while making 18 starts in right field and five in left.

Cabrera had been familiar with several members of the Pirates before he signed with Pittsburgh. He and catcher Francisco Cervelli came up through the Yankees organization at roughly the same time, and both were members of New York’s 2009 World Championship squad. Last season in Cleveland, Cabrera played with Chisenhall and infielder Erik Gonzalez. In addition, pitcher Francisco Liriano and outfielders Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco — all of whom are fellow Dominicans — have been friends of his for several years.

Making positive contributions on the field and seeing familiar faces in the clubhouse have factored into a transition to becoming a Pirate that has gone smoothly.

“It’s been a great experience from the beginning, just coming in and having the organization believe in me and trust in me,” said Cabrera, who is the second-oldest player on the team after Liriano (who is 35). “I’ve always felt young, but being here around so many younger players makes me feel even younger. Plus, it’s the motivation in this clubhouse, the motivation that we give each other every day. It’s all helped me fall in even deeper love with this game. I’m enjoying every bit of this.

“Like I’ve been sharing over and over in interviews, I feel like this team is filled with talent. I see a bright future with this team, and I’m very grateful to the Pirates organization for providing me with the opportunity to show what I have to offer.”

The primary thing he has to offer is a bat that can still do plenty of damage.

Cabrera was never a big home run hitter. His career-high in that category is 18 with Kansas City in 2011 when he also had a career-best 87 RBI. He’s more of a line-drive hitter with extra-base power. Cabrera entered the 2019 season with a .286 lifetime batting average and 1,856 hits over 13-plus seasons in the majors.

And while the 5’10” and 210-pounder isn’t as nimble as he once was patrolling the outfield, he has good defensive instincts and an above-average throwing arm. Cabrera entered 2019 ranked second among active players with 118 outfield assists behind only Ichiro Suzuki (123), who retired after appearing in two games for Seattle this year.

Cabrera put his arm on display at PNC Park on April 19. In the series opener against San Francisco that evening, he threw out Brandon Crawford — who had plans to tag up and score on a fly ball to right field — with ease on a no-bounce throw to Cervelli.

“Some people were surprised by that throw like, ‘Oh, what an arm.’ But I wasn’t surprised because I’ve known him since we were in the Dominican Summer League with the Yankees, and I know what kind of player he is,” Cervelli said. “He’s not just here because there’s a hole to fill and we don’t have anybody else. He’s here for a lot of reasons.

“He’s a smart player in the box. He can do damage. He’s not getting lucky hits. He can barrel the ball all the time, and he makes plays in the outfield. He knows a lot about baseball, and he knows how to win. That’s how he’s wired. I’m glad he’s here, and not just because he’s my friend.”

During Cabrera’s formative years in the big leagues with the Yankees, he was surrounded by great players such as Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Bernie Williams, Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson and Mariano Rivera. Growing up in a poor family in Bajos de Haina in the Dominican Republic and then becoming a member of one of baseball’s most storied franchises was an experience Cabrera will never forget.

“When I signed with the Yankees, it was a great joy because I come from much poverty,” he said. “Signing at such a young age helped me and helped a lot of people around me. It was an opportunity for me to live out my dream and to get my family out of poverty. That was huge.

“When I got to big leagues with the Yankees, those players you mentioned were a huge influence on me. They poured a lot into me. They saw me like a little brother and wanted to make sure that I had a long career. They wanted to make sure that I didn’t come up just to go up and back down. They did a lot to help me. I’m forever grateful for that because I grew so much.”

During the Yankees’ 2009 World Championship season, Cabrera was a solid contributor, batting .274 with 28 doubles, 13 homers and 68 RBI in 154 games. He also exhibited a knack for coming through in clutch situations. In fact, he collected five of the 19 hits that resulted in walk-off victories for New York that year.

Another career highlight for Cabrera — and Melky isn’t a nickname by the way, it’s his given name — was a 201-hit season with the Royals on 2011 when he batted .305 and scored a career-high 102 runs. The following year, he was named the MVP of the Major League Baseball All-Star game as a member of the Giants. That evening, he returned to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI to lead the National League to an 8–0 triumph over the American League.

About a month after the Midsummer Classic, however, Cabrera was suspended for violating Major League Baseball’s drug policy, and he missed the remainder of the season. When the ruling was handed down, he was leading the majors with 159 hits and 52 multiple-hit games and his .346 batting average was second-best in the N.L.

Cabrera doesn’t back away from talking about what happened during the summer of 2012. He regrets that he put himself in that situation. However, he believes dealing with the consequences of that turbulent period helped him become a better man.

“Sometimes it’s those lowest moments where we really find ourselves. We find our identity and we have a growth spurt because of those experiences,” Cabrera said. “One of the experiences that I grew the most from was when I was found positive for steroids. It broke me, but it also helped me value life. It helped me value the game and appreciate a lot more where I was at.

“Naturally, I’ve always enjoyed the good moments in my career. In those I’ve always seen the glory and the blessings. But the lows, I’ve been able to see them as opportunities to grow. Ironically, one of the biggest opportunities I’ve ever had to grow was one of the lowest moments of my life and my career — and it was that situation.”

Cabrera was able to rebound from the suspension and from a 2013 season with Toronto where he missed time with a knee injury and also had to have a tumor removed from his spine. He batted .301 in 139 games with the Blue Jays in 2014, and .296 with 86 RBI for the White Sox in 2016.

After signing with the Indians nearly a month into the 2018 season, Cabrera spent time in the minors with Columbus (AAA), and eventually appeared in 78 games (65 starts in right field) for Cleveland. He was particularly helpful late in the season, batting .321 with 10 doubles, five homers and 27 RBI in 42 games between August 12 and September 30.

After his Cleveland experience, Cabrera was happy to sign with the Pirates before spring training began. That allowed him to receive the benefit of six weeks of camp. He appeared in 19 Grapefruit League games and batted .288, but more importantly, he showed he could help the team.

When Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle was asked what it’s been like to get to know Cabrera and see his skill set up close, he said:

“I’ve seen a professional guy that’s still very engaged in the game — playing the game, teaching the game. He’s passionate about his teammates and passionate about winning. He knows how to prepare and he knows how to play. It’s been really fun to get to know the person as well. He’s a solid, steady guy. He’s quiet, but he has a really good sense of humor. He’s very engaging.”

photo credit: Emilee Fails

Despite how much Cabrera loves playing baseball, he loves his family even more. There isn’t a day that goes by where he doesn’t think about the many good things the game has brought into his life and his family’s life.

“Being the father of four daughters has by far been the best experience of my life. Those four girls mean the world to me. My wife means the world to me,” Cabrera said. “I spend a lot of time in the clubhouse surrounded by men, and I love my teammates and I love the game of baseball. But I really receive the fullness of life when I’m around my girls.

“I don’t get to spend a lot of time with them during baseball season, and that weighs heavy on me at times. But I do everything I can to spend every moment I can with them. Plus, they’re such good girls and they know that Daddy is doing this for them. As a man, my goal is to give them the best upbringing and the best life that I can. I love that my wife and my daughters have been able to recognize that everything I do I do for them. I’m very intentional about that and very focused on that.”

Editor’s Note: Mike Gonzalez — Special Assistant to the GM, Cultural Affairs — translated Melky Cabrera’s comments from Spanish into English for this piece.