Top 106 Baseball Players: #60 - Miguel Cabrera

Miguel Cabrera

Miguel Cabrera is the third active player to make this list, and has been one of the most complete all-around players for at least a decade.

Cabrera broke into the Majors in 2003 with the Florida Marlins, and was able to reach his first career World Series as a rookie, and he contributed to the upset victory over the Yankees with a home run off Roger Clemens in Game 4, and he ended up with the greatest team honor in his first season.

Cabrera played 4 more solid seasons for the Marlins, hitting at least 110 RBI in each, while also reaching 30 home runs and a .300 batting average 3 times. He was traded to the Tigers after the 2007 season, and signed the fourth-biggest contract in history at the time before even putting on a uniform.

In his first season with Detroit, he led the league in home runs and total bases, and within 2 years was the best player in the AL. In 2010 he led the league in RBI, in 2011 he led in batting average and doubles, and he finally put in all together in 2012, winning the first Triple Crown in 45 years with 44 homers, 139 RBI, and an average of .330.

In addition to the Triple Crown, he was also named the MVP, which seemed obvious when looking at his accomplishment. He was even better in 2013, matching the previous season's home run total, with just 2 fewer RBI and a league-leading .348 average, and he was again rewarded with the AL MVP award.

The Tigers reached the postseason in each of those 4 MVP-level seasons, but each time fell short of the championship. They reached the World Series in 2012, his first time reaching the final series in 9 years, but they fell to the Giants in 4 games. Cabrera had 3 more very good seasons after his back-to-back MVP's, but just a bit short of what had come to be expected of him.

Cabrera is among the active leaders in nearly every important category. He is #4 in hits and runs, #3 in doubles, RBI, slugging percentage, and total bases, and #2 in batting average, home runs, and walks. He is the closest active player to both the 3000-hit club and the 500-home run club, and could reach both within the next 2-3 years.

Cabrera is obviously one of the greatest players still on the field, and winning the Triple Crown in an era when it has become extremely rare is a huge achievement. At only 35 years of age, he still has a great opportunity to continue his climb, but for now it is pretty impressive to be ranked this high among the greatest players of all time.