Lorenzo Cain's Course Came Through Rocket City
The conversational currency among long-time baseball fans in Huntsville was the volume and frequency of viewings of Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, who played for the Stars two generations ago. Everyone, it seems, saw them play – even if they barely combined for 100 games at once-grand Joe Davis Stadium.
The conversational currency among long-time baseball fans in Huntsville was the volume and frequency of viewings of Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, who played for the Stars two generations ago. Everyone, it seems, saw them play – even if they barely combined for 100 games at once-grand Joe Davis Stadium.
Which brings us to Lorenzo Cain, who went on to major league greatness, and the thousands who didn’t see him play. And what they missed. But, to be frank, was nowhere near as evident as the prodigious talents McGwire and Canseco, or successors like Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Miguel Tejada and Nelson Cruz displayed in the 256.
Over the course of three seasons – 2008-10 – Cain played in 144 games for the Stars, batting .282. What little limelight that was cast on the team by that point – with attendance having fallen below 100,000 – Cain shared with future big leaguers like Michael Brantley, Martin Maldonado, Brett Lawrie, Jonathan Lucroy and the insane .360 batting average of Angel Salome in 2008.
From here, Cain emerged as a star. He was twice an American League All-Star, won the MVP award in the 2014 American League Championship Series, won a World Series in 2015 with the Royals and a Gold Glove in 2019 with the Brewers, in whose employ he remains.
Winning a Gold Glove just 20 years after not even owning a glove is more than a little remarkable.
Cain grew up in Madison, Fla., a small town along I-10 between Tallahassee and Jacksonville, just at the elbow of the Florida panhandle. Basketball was his first love, but he didn’t make the roster his sophomore year at Madison County High School. He didn’t own a glove at the time. Desperate to remain somehow involved in something, he asked a classmate about trying out for baseball.
“One little thing, one change here, one change there, there’s no telling where I would have been,” Cain related years later to Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star. “If I would have made the basketball team, there’s no chance I would have played baseball. I know that for sure. There’s no chance.”
He was sent to the outfield, in a pair of sneakers and a borrowed glove, at the first practice. Coach Barney Myers hit a fly ball in Cain’s direction and recalled to McCullough, “What’s remarkable is he actually caught it.”
Cain then tugged the glove off his right hand and threw the ball back right handed. “Coach, if I had one of those other gloves, I could get it in way faster.”
He slowly learned the game as a sophomore, played sparingly as a junior, then made himself into a starter by his senior year. Doug Reynolds, a Milwaukee scout, happened to catch a Madison game and noticed Cain’s athleticism. The Brewers took a flyer on him in the 17th round of the draft – something that surprised no one more than it did Cain.
Even as a pro, he was still learning and growing.
“His body was all over the place,” Stars manager Mike Guerrero said of his awkwardness. By 2010, when he truly began to establish himself in Huntsville, “you look at him and it’s been like the evolution of a player,” Guerrero said.
“When I was young, it was rough,” Cain said that spring. “I had to learn this game of baseball. I’m still learning. I’ve still got a lot to improve.”
After starting the 2008 season at Class A Brevard, Cain was promoted to Huntsville in July, batting .277 in 40 games. But 2009 was a brutal time. He pulled a hamstring in spring training and began the year on the disabled list. Four days after being activated, on April 23, he dove for a fly ball at Carolina and tore a knee ligament. He sat out half the season, batting only .214 in 42 games.
“When I finally got the chance to play again, I wasn’t the same,” he said on the eve of the 2010 campaign. “But I was able to bounce back and I’m ready to go forward.”
How much forward, who could have predicted?
If nothing else, the scout Doug Reynolds could be considered a genius.
Cain made his big league debut that season, pinch-hitting in a July 16 Milwaukee lineup that was rich with former Stars – Rickie Weeks, Corey Hart, Ryan Braun, Alcides Escobar and Prince Fielder. A month later, he was entrenched in the lineup as the starting centerfielder.
But, the Brewers being the Brewers, desperately seeking the final piece to a puzzle that might bring them a pennant, they traded Cain away in the off-season. Milwaukee picked up Zack Greinke – 25-9 in 49 starts for the Brewers – in return for Cain, Escobar and two other players.
The Royals shipped him down to Class AAA in 2011, but he was back up for good in 2012. By 2014, he was a legit superstar, and decimated the Orioles with a .535 batting average in the ALCS and with incredible defensive play. He batted .308 in the World Series, which the Royals lost to the Giants, with even more great defensive play.
The next year, the Royals beat the Mets in five games in the World Series – Escobar was the MVP – and the kid who once had to borrow a glove was on the way to an $11 million salary. After the 2017 season, he declared free agency, and opted to return “home” to the Brewers.
The career of Lorenzo Cain?
“It’s a movie,” a former high school teammate told McCullough.
“It’s a miracle. I’m telling you, it’s a miraculous thing,” Myers said.
“I think it’s a little bit of both, man. It’s definitely a story,” Cain said.
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