Miguel Cabrera Says Yankees Scouts Wanted Him to Be a Pitcher: 'They Got It Wrong'
Ahead of his attempt to enter the exclusive 3,000-hit club against the New York Yankees on Thursday, Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera shared a surprising story from when he was a young prospect.
Speaking to ESPN's Marly Rivera, Cabrera divulged that Yankees scouts wanted him to be a pitcher:
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Miggy ended up signing with the then-Florida Marlins as an amateur free agent in 1999, and it turned out to be the best possible move for his career, as he developed into one of the greatest hitters in MLB history.
After racking up three hits against the Yankees on Wednesday, Cabrera enters Thursday's game just one hit away from becoming the 33rd player in MLB history to record at least 3,000 career hits.
Over the course of 20 MLB seasons, Cabrera is a lifetime .310 hitter with 2,999 base hits, 502 home runs, 1,807 RBI and 1,510 runs scored.
The 39-year-old is also an 11-time All-Star, two-time American League MVP, seven-time Silver Slugger award winner, four-time batting champion, one-time winner of the Triple Crown, and he won the 2003 World Series with the Marlins, making him a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Fittingly, when Cabrera won the World Series as a rookie, he beat the Yankees organization that wanted to convert him to pitcher.
Cabrera was one of the driving forces behind Florida winning a championship, as he had one homer and three RBI in the World Series after hitting .333 with three home runs and six RBI against the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series.
After five fruitful seasons with the Marlins, Cabrera was traded to the Tigers in 2007 and spent the next 15 years in Detroit.
While injuries and a loss of power in recent years have knocked him from the ranks of MLB's elite hitters, he was in that club for well over a decade, which is something few players can say.
Perhaps Cabrera would have enjoyed success as a pitcher also, but given what he has accomplished at the plate, it is fair to call the Yankees' evaluation of him a swing and a miss.
