Melky Cabrera

Professional career

Melky Cabrera first joined the Yankees organization as a 17-year-old in November 2001, inking a deal that came with a $175,000 signing bonus. He kicked off his pro career in 2003 with Staten Island in the short-season New York–Penn League, putting up a .283 average and 31 RBIs across 67 games. The next season, he moved up to Battle Creek in the Class A Midwest League, where he hit .333 with 16 RBIs in 42 contests before earning a promotion to Tampa in the Florida State League. There, he batted .288 and drove in 51 runs over 85 games to close out 2004.

New York Yankees (2005–2009)

In 2005, Cabrera began the year with Double-A Trenton, hitting .275 with 60 RBIs in 106 games. He got a bump to Triple-A Columbus at the end of June and tore it up, slashing .324 with three homers and 11 RBIs in just nine games. That hot stretch earned him a big-league call-up on July 7, when he debuted in center field at Yankee Stadium against the Cleveland Indians. He notched his first hit, a single, in his third at-bat.

The following day, he went 2-for-3 off Cliff Lee and scored his first run, but then fell into a 0-for-13 skid and made some costly blunders. One came on July 15 at Fenway Park, when he misplayed a Trot Nixon fly ball that turned into an inside-the-park homer in a 17-1 loss. He was sent back to Columbus the next day for 17 games, then dropped to Double-A Trenton to finish the season, appearing in just six MLB games and batting .211.

Spring training 2006 gave Cabrera extra playing time while regular outfielders Johnny Damon and Bernie Williams were away at the World Baseball Classic. He impressed by hitting .349 over 16 games, but the Yankees still optioned him to Triple-A Columbus to start the regular season.

Did You Know?

• Cabrera was the second youngest Yankee ever to hit a walk-off home run, at age 22, behind only the 21-year-old Mickey Mantle in 1953.
• On June 6, 2006, he leaped over the wall at Fenway Park to take a home run away from Boston slugger Manny Ramírez, earning a 'This Year In Baseball' award for the outstanding play of the 2006 season.
• On August 2, 2009, Cabrera became the first Yankee to hit for the cycle since Tony Fernández did on September 3, 1995.
• He hit the first walk-off home run in the new Yankee Stadium on April 22, 2009, a two-run shot in the bottom of the 14th inning.
• Cabrera was signed by the Yankees on November 14, 2001, at age 17, receiving a $175,000 signing bonus.