What Pros Wear: Miguel Cabrera (Bat, Batting Gloves, Cleats, Guard)

Mike 07/19/2012

miguel cabrera bat, miguel cabrera batting gloves, sam bat, franklin neo classic ii, new balance 1103 cleats, evoshield wrist guard

Miguel Cabrera swings a Sam Bat.

THIS PROFILE HAS BEEN UPDATED HERE.

You have to wonder if baseball is even hard enough for a guy like Miguel Cabrera. Every time you look, he’s smiling or joking or messing around like you would on a playground, except he’s on a professional ballfield, turning around the best fastballs the world has to offer with ease. Miguel Cabrera is the best hitter in the American League, hands down. Consistency is often overlooked in baseball since every year we seem to see a remarkable season from a guy who came out of nowhere, but Miguel Cabrera puts up the same Triple Crown-type numbers year in and year out.

30 home runs or more 7 of his 8 full seasons in the Majors
110 RBI or more in 6 of his 8 full seasons (105 in ’11, 103 in ’09—off years, huh?)
.320 batting average or better in 6 of his 8 full seasons (.327 this year)
Five top 5 finishes in the MVP voting

Those are the types of numbers that make a player the cornerstone of a franchise, and that’s exactly what Cabrera is—if not a first ballot Hall of Famer when it’s all said and done.

Cabrera swings a Sam Bat maple MC1, his own cut, that you see below.

Source: gameusedbats.com.

Cabrera’s maple bat is a 34 inch, 32 oz. His model is not available, but the Sam Bat brand is.

For batting gloves, Cabrera wears the Franklin Neo Classic II in white/navy AT HOME exactly as you see them in the feature, and these ARE available online. On the road, Miggy wears a navy/orange version like in the photo below.

Source: Rob Carr/Getty Images North America

The navy/orange version is not available online.

Miguel Cabrera wears New Balance 1103 cleats in the high-top versions that you see in the feature. Recently, he has worn both the white and black pairs for home games and the black/grey/orange pair you see in the above photo on the road. Though the away version is not available, both home versions are.

Within the past few days, Cabrera has switched out his Franklin wristbands (not available) with the Evoshield compression wrist guard you see in the feature photo. I am a little curious what exactly the purpose of this guard is, and here’s what Evoshield has to say:

“The Compression Of Tape With The Comfort Of A Sleeve! EvoShield’s Wrist w/ Strap let’s you choose the level of wrist compression you want. You’ll never need to tape your wrists again. The adjustable, high performance strap has a uniquely branded rubber tab for easy wrapping and unwrapping giving the wrist w/strap a clean, professional look.”

Well, then—if you’re tired of taping, this guard looks like the solution.