Daniel Cabrera: A Superhero in Disguise?

Forty-seven years ago, a Dodgers pitcher started a Spring Training game by walking the bases loaded on twelve pitches. His catcher, Norm Sherry, walked to the mound and told the hurler to let the batters make contact.

Although the words were cliché to him, for some reason, the light in his head went off as bright as the Bat-Signal. Like for the citizens of Gotham, the illumination meant that the Dodgers savior would finally arrive.

Over the next six seasons, Sandy Koufax would dominate the competition and pull down some serious hardware, three Cy Young Awards to accompany his MVP trophy.

Daniel Cabrera, a twenty-seven year old hurler for the Orioles, has similarly frustrated Orioles fans and their Front Office. Standing 6’7” tall with a right arm that hurtles a baseball at startling speeds, Baltimore has seen nothing but inconsistency from the Dominican.

In 2006, he turned the mighty batters of the New York Yankees into scarecrows, freezing them with his pitches for nine innings and only allowing one hit. Alternatively, he has led the American League in walks two of the past three seasons.

Daniel Cabrera has shown to be just as two-faced in 2008. In his first two starts of the year he allowed a combined ten earned runs and issued nine walks in ten innings. His third start showed more promise. He held the strong Tampa Bay Rays to one run and five hits over six and two thirds innings.

No joke, Cabrera’s last start may mark the transition from a could-be to an ace.

While Cabrera has flashed this promise before only to revert back to inconsistency, a Koufaxian moment occurred that dark night in Tampa Bay. Cabrera, under the guidance of pitching coach Rick Kranitz, threw fastballs eighty-eight percent of the time according to MLB Gameday.

Possessing a solid changeup and slider, Cabrera threw 91 fastballs out of his 103 pitches recorded on Gameday. It wasn’t a riddle. The Rays knew what was coming and still could not put their Louisville Sluggers on it.

Cabrera’s stuff is that electric. (Note: His first and last pitch both registered at 95mph.) Not many pitchers, one pitch wonder Mariano Rivera excluded, can dominate a Major League batter with a single pitch.

Orioles manager Dave Trembley said, “He didn’t try to nibble with his fastball. We just told him, ‘Just throw your fastball for strikes, pitch inside with it and when you have to, elevate it.’”

Expecting Cabrera to put up numbers similar to those of Koufax would be unfair. Koufax dominated the game in such a fashion that he made opposing batters look like penguins, wobbling off-balance and barely moving their arms as the ball whizzed passed. However, it would be a shrewd move for the Orioles to attempt to invoke the legend to visit Cabrera in Spring Training next year to offer guidance.

Although a man who enjoys his privacy, Koufax has shown a willingness to work with current players. Excluding the time he spent as a pitching coach in the Dodgers Minor League system, Koufax visited the Mets in Port St. Lucie and talked with their pitchers this past February.

Speaking of his visit to Mets camp, Koufax said, “If somebody wants to get better, and I think I can help them, then it’s a pleasure. I don’t do it unless somebody asks me.”

Ask away, Orioles. Perhaps, Koufax can tinker with Cabrera both physically and mentally and give him a few more gadgets for his tool belt. Baltimore sure could use a superhero.