One would not usually put San Francisco Giants outfielder, Melky Cabrera, in the same sentence as hitting legend, Pete Rose. However, with the 2012 season the Melky is having, the numbers make it too difficult to ignore, just ask any Melky fantasy baseball owners.
Melky is hitting .376 with four homers and 25 RBI. Okay, so the power numbers are not there, but the .376 batting average is first in the National League and is only a hundreth of a point behind Paul Konerko's .386, which leads the Majors.
In his last 10 games Melky has 22 hits in 42 at-bats. Good for a .524 batting average within that stretch.
If these numbers do not convince you, in the month of May Melky had 50 hits, making him the only switch-hitter in the expansion era to collect that sum in a month. Melky has 77 hits through the first 50 games of the season. A total that has only been done exceeded twice by Max Carey in 1925 and Roberto Alomar in 1996.
In 1973 Pete Rose had 230 hits in a season. The most by any switcher-hitter. A record that Rose shares with Willie Wilson, a former Royals outfielder. Melky is on pace to shatter this record as Wilson had only 66 hits through the first 50 ballgames and Rose had 61.
Melky has had at least two hits in 25 games so far this season and there have been only nine games in which Melky has not had a hit.
His days as an Atlanta Brave are long gone as last year in Kansas City, Melky almost reached the 230 mark. He had a total of 201 hits in 2011 in a breakout season hitting .305 with 18 home runs and 82 RBI.
The Giants got Melky from the Royals in a trade for left-handed pitcher, Jonathan Sanchez. So far, the Giants are the winners in this trade.
All in all, these numbers are incredible. With 112 games left in the season, Melky needs 153 more hits to tie the record held by Pete Rose and Willie Wilson.
