Welcome Cano as the Yankees' finest

LOS ANGELES – On a brilliant afternoon in New York a short time ago, Robinson Cano(notes) had arrived at his locker at Yankee Stadium, folded his sunglasses and slid them onto a shelf, emptied his pockets, then turned blindly into a uniquely New York moment.

Reporters, everywhere. Staring expectantly. Pens poised.

Cano raised his eyebrows.

He had slept on another night's lead in the American League batting race.

Maybe it was about that.

At 27, he is no longer a rising star, but an established one. In his sixth big league season, he is no longer a Yankee, but among the Yankees. He is a champion, like Derek Jeter(notes) and Jorge Posada(notes) and Mariano Rivera(notes), a fixture like Alex Rodriguez(notes) and Mark Teixeira(notes).

Maybe it was about that.

But, he doubted it.

Um, about Lady Gaga …

Cano grinned uncomfortably. She'd been through the clubhouse the night before, mostly dressed, stirring up the place, fraternizing after a loss, making everyone a little uncomfortable. Cano had introduced himself.

"She was nice," he said.

And?

"I just wanted to say hi, that was it."

Uh-huh.

"Can we talk about baseball now?"

And everybody wandered away.

Cano batting .361, leading the league in hits, top five in OPS, on-base percentage and runs scored, building a case for MVP as the best player on the best team in his league, that's interesting. Throw in Lady Gaga, now we're onto something.

He turned back to his locker, pleased to be done with that. There would be more to the day. There would be baseball, and two more hits, and another New York Yankees victory.

Talk to Yankees about Cano, talk to former Yankees, and their observations align: He is an unfairly talented ballplayer. And he has grown enough to have it translate every day at the ballpark. He works harder than he ever has, is more committed, and is more aware.

That he found a new and better way to attack the game while batting .306 in his first five seasons, and that his coaches and teammates expected better all along, testifies to what they suspected about the young Dominican second baseman: What he was, that was good. What he could be, that was great.

"He's maturing right now in front of our eyes," Alex Rodriguez said Saturday afternoon before an interleague game against the Dodgers. "We're seeing flashes of stardom."

The Yankees aren't short on that. But, even on a team that never seems to grow old (See: Core Four), Cano's youth stretches the franchise's on-field viability beyond whatever you might view as this group's inevitable end, to a time when – gasp – Jeter and Posada are gone, and Rodriguez is a DH, and Teixeira has slowed. He is their future (probably at third base, batting third), and in the meantime will stand and hit with them, and perhaps win with them, and one day help lead them.

"Cano's special in every way," Posada said. "We knew he was going to be a great hitter. It was just a matter of time, and now it has developed."

A couple seasons ago, hitting coach Kevin Long told Cano that no one in baseball hit for a higher average when the ball was in play. And in every season since, Cano's strikeouts have come down, and the number of pitches he sees per plate appearance has risen. In 2007, when the Yankees asked him to become more consistent defensively, Cano reported to Legends Field well before 8 a.m. every day during spring training, and was on a back field at 8:30 sharp, tagging along with Rodriguez, coach Larry Bowa and a fungo bat.

"We're not coming out to fool around," Bowa told him.

When camp ended, Cano hadn't missed a session.

"The biggest thing was, I don't want to use the word 'immature,' " Bowa said. "But I think he was happy to be in the big leagues in the beginning."

Thing was, he batted .342 and was an All-Star in the beginning, when he was just 23. And he hit .306 at 24. And when he flattened out at 25, when the gliding ease with which he made plays at second base was being construed as somewhat cavalier and his bat faded and there were calls to be rid of him, the Yankees knew they'd have his attention.

So Jeter got in his ear, told him to stay humble. And Rodriguez showed him what a long day looked like. And Bowa wore out a couple fungo bats. Cano batted .320 and hit a career-high 25 home runs last season and in the first three months of this one has been the Yankees' best player.

"No. 1, he's strong as an ox," Rodriguez said. "People don't realize. And then he has a nose for the ball. He can put the barrel on the baseball as well as anybody. With him, there's so much grace in his swing, so much fluidity, it gives you the impression it's effortless. But, the barrel is in the zone for so long, just like [Joe] Mauer. And now this year, there's a seriousness, a look to him, that says he's ready to take the next step."

It's a big one, as Cano knows. He looked around the clubhouse, gestured across the room toward an area where the placards read, "JETER" and "POSADA" and "RODRIGUEZ."

"I never looked at myself with those guys," he said. "They've been here a long time. And I never looked at myself in front of those guys. That's going to come one day. Right now, I don't look at myself that way. I'll let you guys decide."

Yeah, we can talk about baseball now.