Baseball Career
He was signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent in 1991, and moved to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization before the 1998 season. Later, he signed with Arizona and before that, he also played for CPBL's Koos Group Whales in 1999. After staying in the minors for nine seasons, he finally got a shot in the majors in 2000. A muscular slugger (6' 2", 220 lb.), Cabrera hit a home run during his first at-bat. He ended the season with a .262 average, five home runs, 14 RBI, 10 runs, two doubles, one triple and a .500 slugging percentage in 31 games. After that, the Seibu Lions of the Japan Pacific League purchased his contract from Arizona.
In 2001, Cabrera batted .282, with 49 home runs and 124 RBI, and exploded with a .336, 55, 115 batting line in 2002, winning the Pacific League's MVP award. His 55 home runs tied Japan's single-season record, equaling the mark set by the legendary Sadaharu Oh in 1964 and matched by former big leaguer Tuffy Rhodes in 2001. Like Rhodes, Cabrera would see few good pitches for the remaining games after tying the record. He maintained his form in 2003, batting .324, 50, 112.
On October 26, 2004, pitcher Takashi Ishii went six strong innings and Cabrera hit a two-run towering homer as the Seibu Lions defeated the Chunichi Dragons 7–2 in Game 7 of the Japan Series to win their first championship since 1992. The ball bounced off the glass-enclosed private boxes above the left field seats. It was Cabrera's third home run of the series. He also hit a grand slam and a two-run homer in Game 3.
In six seasons with the Lions, Cabrera has been a .308 hitter with 246 home runs and 605 RBI in 708 games.
In January 2008, Cabrera signed a one-year contract with the Orix Buffaloes. It was reported that the contract had a requirement that Cabrera pass a drug test when he reported in February. He obtained free agency right in the 2009 season after playing 8 years in Japan (which removes himself as "foreign player" after the season ends), being the fourth non-Japanese players obtaining such classification in NPB.
Read more about this topic: Alex Cabrera
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