WASHINGTON — Robinson Cano doesn’t want to look back.
But his manager is banking on his past to help get him out of the slump he is currently mired in after going hitless and striking out three times Wednesday in the Mets’ 5-1 loss to the Nationals.
“He’s been doing this for a very, very long time,” Mickey Callaway said. “He knows himself, he knows his swing, and I have faith that he’s going to bust out of it eventually and get rolling. I feel like you’re going to look up at the end of the year and there’s going to be some pretty good numbers there. That’s just what he’s always done.”
For now, Cano is hitting .245 with just three home runs through a streaky 38 games. The 36-year-old started 14-for-73 (.192) with a .582 OPS through 17 games before getting hot for 11 games, a stretch in which he was 15-for-34 (.441) with a 1.119 OPS. Now, over his past 10 games, he is back in a slump, batting 7-for-40 (.175) with a .458 OPS.
“The past couple of games, I’ve been missing fastballs right down the middle,” Cano said, while insisting he’s “never frustrated.”
Cano has struggled particularly against lefties. All four of his at-bats came against southpaws Wednesday in Patrick Corbin and Sean Doolittle, and he is now 5-for-42 (.119) with 18 strikeouts and a .346 OPS against lefties this season. Against righties, he is batting 31-for-105 (.295) with 16 strikeouts and a .815 OPS.
“I’m a guy that’s always positive, so I don’t look back,” Cano said. “I’m never going to put my head down or try to look for excuses or anything. It’s just a bad start.
“It’s the beginning of the season. There’s a lot of games left and that’s something I’m not worried about.”
Cano’s three home runs on the season put him on pace for 12, which would be the second-lowest total of his 15-year career. He only hit less last year, when he cracked 10 home runs in 80 games, a season shortened by serving an 80-game suspension after testing positive for a banned substance.
The second baseman, who still has four years and $96 million left on his contract after this season, has been hit on the hand twice by pitches this season. But he refused to use that as an excuse for his lack of production.
“Even if it’s that, I would never [use it as an] excuse,” Cano said. “I go out there and play every day. I’ve been swinging good. I feel good. I don’t want to blame my hands or anything.”
