MIAMI (AP) -Florida Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez remembers the moment Jorge Cantu began making a believer out of him.
“First day of spring training,” Gonzalez said.
His opinion has only gotten better since.
Cantu started the season seeming like he was destined to be part of a trivia question: “Who replaced Miguel Cabrera at third base for the Marlins?” But he’s been the answer to that and much more for surprising Florida, batting .289 with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs entering Wednesday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
rida’s former third baseman.
“He’s been swinging it like that almost the whole year, other than the first four days of the season,” Gonzalez said, referring to Cantu’s 2-for-16 start to 2008. “For me, day in and day out, he’s one of the most productive hitters we’ve got. It seems like he’s got a plan at the plate. He has a plan at the plate. And he’s taken to that three-hole, really, and done a fine job.”
It’s a comeback story, really.
Cantu was Tampa Bay’s team MVP in 2005, hitting .286 with 28 home runs and 117 RBIs in his first full major league season – one where he was thrust into action at second base partly because of Roberto Alomar’s retirement.
He was a promising star. Those promises were unfulfilled in 2006 and 2007.
“I never lost focus,” Cantu said. “I’ve always been confident.”
He appeared in just 159 games at the major-league level in those two seasons, managing just 15 home runs and 75 RBIs. The Rays – then the Devil Rays – didn’t even have him on the 25-man roster at the start of last season and eventually traded him last July to Cincinnati in a largely nondescript deal. Cantu played in only 27 games with the Reds over the final two-plus months of the season.
This winter, the Marlins came calling with a minor-league contract and an invitation to spring training.
Odds are, he’ll never see Albuquerque now.
“Going into spring training, I had heard he was a guy that plays hard, shows up to the field every day, comes ready to play and is a big team guy,” Marlins right fielder Jeremy Hermida said. “He’s definitely proven to be all that. He always seems to give us a boost when we need it.”
He gives them flexibility, too.
Cantu’s glove has not been stellar this year – his 14 errors lead the majors – but Gonzalez doesn’t shy about moving him around the diamond. He started at first base Wednesday night to give Mike Jacobs a day off, ended Tuesday night’s win over Philadelphia by making a nifty play at first, and Gonzalez said he wouldn’t rule out playing Cantu occasionally at second base, either.
Cantu insists the error numbers aren’t bothering him too much.
“That’s just the way it goes some days,” Cantu said. “The ball finds you. You play baseball, the ball will find you, no matter what.”
His consistent bat is more than making up for any mistakes in the field.
Cantu’s best production in Tampa Bay came as the No. 3 hitter, so he isn’t surprised by his comfort level there with the Marlins. And even now, three years later, Cantu credits his Rays manager – Lou Piniella, now with the Chicago Cubs – for teaching him lessons about the No. 3 spot that he still uses today.
“I really don’t know why it’s happening,” Cantu said. “But everything’s just coming alive right now.”
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