In the way you would not ask Adele to stop singing, it feels wrong to tell Robinson Cano to stop swinging.
Why halt something so beautiful?
Yet, I expect Yankees opponents to do exactly that — if not completely curtailing the sweetest swing in the sport, then at least severely limiting the volume. Cano is hard to walk, but opponents are going to try, nevertheless. Especially late in tight games.
“My instructions,” one veteran scout explained, “(are) going to be if the game is close after the sixth inning, DO NOT LET CANO BEAT YOU. And I am going to do it in capital letters.”
Cano already was coping with a version of this, as he clearly has become the Yankees’ most lethal hitter while key veterans began to diminish around him.
But the policy is about to become more extreme, with Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez to begin the season on the disabled list.
Suddenly, Cano seemingly has all the protection of an umbrella in an avalanche. This might not be Miami, where the lineup is Giancarlo Stanton and the eight dwarves (Rob Brantly is hitting cleanup). But Yankees opponents are going to spend the early weeks treating Cano like plutonium, and probing if Kevin Youkilis and Travis Hafner have anything left.
“I would pitch around him,” Youkilis said. “He’s the best left-hand hitter in the game. I don’t care who is hitting behind him. There are going to be situations where he is just to be avoided.”
But those situations will expand, and expand in number if Youkilis and Hafner do not offer legitimate protection, if a duo that drove in as many runs together (94) last year as Cano did by himself do not make opponents regularly pay for just working around the Yankees’ No. 3 hitter. Which would force difficult decisions for Cano.
The range of Cano’s swing is so great and his hands are so lightning-fast that he can hit outside the strike zone. But even he acknowledged his hiccups in the season come when he chases too much — “the first thing I have to do is lay off the high fastball.”
We saw a preview of what would be a Yankees horror show last October. Cano ended the season as hot as a hitter could be (.615 in the final 10 games). No other Yankee was posing much of a threat. So in the playoffs, pitchers worked Cano with extreme care. Meanwhile, he felt the burden of having to carry the club. He had a record 0-for-29 stretch in the postseason — which seemed unthinkable for a player with, well, that beautiful swing.
“The lesson was there in the playoffs,” Cano said. “There is no secret: I didn’t get strikes and I swung out of the zone. … If I start thinking about who is behind or in front of me, I will come out of my game. If they don’t pitch to me, I have to let the guys behind me hit, no matter who it is. Even if I am the big guy [in the lineup], I have to stay patient. Youkilis, Vernon Wells and Hafner know how to drive in runs. “
Cano also is in his walk year, and there will be stress to hit his way to a stratospheric
contract. But he promised, “the worst thing I can do is be selfish and say, ‘I have to get the RBI.’ ”
But can Cano accept walks? Some will be inevitable. For unless real protection comes, there is a chance Cano can break Mickey Mantle’s Yankees record for intentional walks in a season (23). And there are going to be the unintentional intentional walks, as pitchers tempt Cano. If they walk him, fine. If he chases outside the zone, that works, too.
Cano did draw a career-high 61 walks last year, and hitting coach Kevin Long said Cano’s grasp of the strike zone improves annually. But Long insisted the key for Cano “is not to become passive.” Yes, there are going to be more pitches outside of the zone.
“He can’t be taking, taking, taking,” Long said. “Pitchers make mistakes. You always hear about great batters being pitched around, but those batters, like Miguel Cabrera and Barry Bonds, they still put up numbers. Pitchers make mistakes, so no matter how much they say they are pitching around you, you have to be ready to hit.”
In fact, Mark Teixeira said Bonds would be the great example for Cano. Teixeira expects Cano to hit ahead in the count more than ever — more 2-0, more 3-1. At that point, Teixeira said, Cano has to make the zone he is willing to swing at “extremely tiny.” And not miss it. Steroid criticism aside, what was astonishing about Bonds was that he might see one hittable pitch every game or two or three, yet always was ready to pounce.
But extreme selectivity always was part of Bonds’ DNA. It is not for Cano.
“Robby has that kind of skill to be able to commit to that kind of plan,” Teixeira said. “He just gets better and better every year. He can zero in on one spot when he is way up in the count and do big damage if he gets it, and if not, it is fine for him to build his on-base percentage, extend innings and make pitchers throw more pitches. He just has to make it all about hitting just his pitch.”
joel.sherman@nypost.com