Melky Cabrera

At 22, he was the second youngest Yankee ever to hit a walk-off home run, to the 21-year-old Mickey Mantle in 1953.

Melky Cabrera Astacio (born August 11, 1984 ), nicknamed "the Melkman", is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians, and Pittsburgh Pirates.

While primarily a left fielder throughout his career, Cabrera spent a significant amount of his playing time as a center fielder for the Royals and Yankees.

Cabrera signed with the Yankees as an amateur free agent.

Melky Cabrera Astacio was born on August 11, 1984 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Cabrera was signed by the New York Yankees on November 14, 2001, at age 17, receiving a $175,000 signing bonus.

He played for the Staten Island Yankees in the Class A Short-Season New York–Penn League in 2003, batting .283 with 31 runs batted in (RBIs) in 67 games.

In 2004, he was promoted to the Battle Creek Yankees of the Class A Midwest League, hitting .333 with 16 RBIs in 42 games.

He was promoted to the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, where he hit .288 with 51 RBIs in 85 games to finish the season.

He made his MLB debut for the Yankees in 2005.

In 2005, Cabrera started off with the Trenton Thunder of the Double-A Eastern League, hitting .275 with 60 RBIs in 106 games.

At the end of June, he was promoted to the Columbus Clippers of the Triple-A International League, where he hit .324 with three homers and 11 RBIs in nine games.

On July 7, he made his major league debut in center field at Yankee Stadium against the Cleveland Indians.

He collected his first major league hit, a single, in his third at-bat that day.

The next day he went 2-for-3 against Cleveland Indians pitcher Cliff Lee, scoring his first major league run, but then went 0-for-his-next-13 and made costly miscues, including one on July 15, 2005, against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, misplaying a Trot Nixon fly ball that resulted in an inside-the-park home run during a 17–1 defeat.

He was sent down to Triple-A Columbus the next day for 17 games and then demoted again, back to Double-A Trenton to finish out the season.

Cabrera played in six Major Leagues games in 2005, batting .211.

Cabrera saw a lot of time in spring training of 2006 with starting outfielders Johnny Damon and Bernie Williams playing in the World Baseball Classic.

He impressed the Yankees by hitting .349 in 16 games, but was ultimately sent down to Triple-A Columbus at the start of the season.

He started the season strongly at Triple-A Columbus, hitting .385 with four home runs and 24 RBIs in just 31 games before being called up on May 9, 2006, after left fielder Hideki Matsui broke his wrist and was on the disabled list until September 12, 2006.

Cabrera replaced him in left field, and hit .318 in May with his first 10 career RBIs and two career stolen bases.

On May 30, 2006, batting leadoff for only the second time in his career, he recorded his first career 4-hit game, going 4-for-6.

He slumped in June, but hit his first major league home run on June 15.

On June 6, 2006, in the eighth inning of a 2–1 game against the Red Sox, he made an outstanding catch in left-center, leaping over the wall to take a home run away from Boston slugger Manny Ramírez.

This play earned Cabrera a "This Year In Baseball" award (voted on by the fans) for the outstanding play of the 2006 season.

Cabrera heated up again in July, hitting .313 with 14 RBIs.

He had his first career five-RBI game on July 5, with his first career grand slam.

He finished the 2006 season tied for second in the league with 12 outfield assists.

In 130 games, Cabrera batted .280 with seven home runs and 50 RBI.

After the 2006 season, he played for Águilas Cibaeñas of the Dominican Professional Baseball League (LIDOM).

Cabrera was slotted as fourth outfielder at the beginning of the 2007 season.

He struggled, batting only .200 in April and .254 in May with limited playing time.

He was batting .223 on the season when Jason Giambi went on the disabled list on June 1, 2007, giving him more playing time as Damon assumed Giambi's role of designated hitter and Cabrera took over center field from Damon.

After this, he hit .320 with three of his five home runs and 21 of his 36 RBIs.

After playing as a fourth outfielder, the Yankees included him in a trade to the Braves after the 2009 season.

Struggling with the Braves in 2010, he was released, and signed by the Royals in 2011.

Cabrera had a strong year with the Royals, and was traded to the Giants for the 2012 season.

In 2012, Cabrera made his first All-Star Game appearance, winning the All-Star Game MVP Award.

On the 18th, he hit his first career walk-off home run.