New York Mets veteran second baseman Robinson Canó discusses some workload strategies ahead of the 2020 campaign.
Prior to last season, the New York Mets acquired veteran second baseman Robinson Canó via a trade with the Seattle Mariners. Canó was supposed to bolster the lineup in 2019 but instead experienced an injury-plagued campaign. The eight-time All-Star played in just 107 games, the second-lowest single-season total of his career.
Canó wants anything but a repeat of last year. Having said that, the second baseman is pondering over some workload strategies ahead of the 2020 campaign.
“Once you set those kind of goals, 125 [games], it’s kind of like for a guy that loves this game, loves to play baseball, loves to be out on the field, you don’t want to have that mindset,” Canó said, per Mike Puma of the New York Post. “Once you go into the season, you go play out every day. It depends how you feel, I think I would rather go by that and see how I feel, since I played 15 or 20 days in a row, I can say, ‘You know what, I think I need a day off today.’
“I would rather go like that then just set a goal that every five or 10 games you are going to be off, because what happens if I feel good and I am doing good? You are going to sit down today and then later on you get in a slump or whatever it is, I think I would rather go by that and see how I feel.”
During those 107 appearances last year, Canó smacked 13 home runs with 39 RBIs and a slash line of .256/.307/.428. His RBI and batting average totals were the lowest of his 15-year career.
The former New York Yankee and Mariner has played in just one spring training game this year. In two plate appearances, Canó has zero hits and one walk.
Canó is likely to retain his role as the primary starting second baseman in 2020. He could definitely be a reliable asset within this New York lineup. Nonetheless, he’ll need to stay out of the trainer’s room.
