Lorenzo Cain

[Michael Trzinski]

Lorenzo Lamar Cain was born in April 1986 in Valdosta, Georgia. His family moved to Florida and Cain graduated from Madison County High School in 2004. He was selected by the Brewers in the 17^th round of the 2004 MLB Amateur Draft but instead chose to attend Tallahassee Community College. After his freshman season, Cain signed with the Brewers for $100,000 and began his pro career in 2005.

For a player that didn’t start playing organized baseball until he was a sophomore in high school, the right-handed hitting outfielder moved up steadily in the Brewers chain, making stops at every level. In 2006, Cain was named to the Single-A South Atlantic League’s All-Star team, leading the league with 162 hits and finishing in the top five with 36 doubles and 91 runs scored. He set a West Virginia Power team record for hits in a season.

After five seasons in the minors, Cain made his big-league debut with the Brewers on July 16, 2010. Milwaukee had a triumvirate of All-Star centerfielders that year, as Cain made 30 starts, Carlos Gómez made 61, and Jim Edmonds started 34 games. Cain had a nice rookie season, slashing .306/.348/.415 over 147 at-bats. After the season, the Brewers traded Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jake Odorizzi, and Jeremy Jeffress to the Kansas City Royals for Zack Greinke, Yuniesky Betancourt and cash.

Cain spent most of the 2011 season at Triple-A Omaha and batted .312/.380/.497 across 487 at-bats. He got called up to the Royals and played the last six games of the season, batting .273/.304/.318.

The lanky 6-foot-2 Cain started with the Royals in 2012 but injured his groin after crashing into the outfield wall in the fifth game of the season. Cain was doing rehab at Double-A Northwest Arkansas when he tore a hip flexor. He did a rehab stint at Triple-A Omaha and then finished the season with the Royals and played in almost every game, ending with a slash line of .266/.316/.419 with seven homers and 10 stolen bases over 61 games and 222 at-bats.

Cain made it to mid-August 2013 before the injury bug struck again. This time it was a strained left oblique that put him out of commission for a month. He finished the campaign with a batting line of .251/.310/.348 over 399 at-bats.

The next two seasons saw the Royals making it to the World Series. In 2014, Cain hit .301/.339/.412 across 471 at-bats. The Royals lost in seven games to the San Francisco Giants. The next year was even better. Cain was an All-Star for the first time and garnered enough MVP votes to finish third in the AL MVP race. He set career highs with 101 runs scored, 34 doubles, six triples, 16 home runs, 72 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 125. The Royals beat the New York Mets in five games to win their first World Series since 1985.

Cain missed two months in 2016 (hamstring, wrist) but still did well, batting .287/.339/.408 across 397 at-bats. The following season saw Cain play in 155 games, which was a career high. His slash line read .300/.363/.440 over a career-high 584 at-bats.

After the 2017 season, Cain received a qualifying offer from the Royals but declined it. In January he signed a five-year, $80 million contract with the Brewers. The first two years with the Brewers saw Cain earn All-Star status in 2018 with a slash line of .308/.395/.417, career-high 30 stolen bases, and a 119 OPS+. Cain had four multi-hit games in 10 post-season games, but the Brewers lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games in the NLCS. Although his batting dropped off (.260/.325/.372) in 2019, Cain earned his first and only Gold Glove.

The next three seasons were disrupted by Covid (2020), injury (2021), and poor play (2022). He was released by Milwaukee in June 2022 and announced his retirement in March 2023. He signed a one-day contract with Kansas City and retired as a Royal.

Cain played seven years with Kansas City and six with Milwaukee and ended his big-league career with a slash line of .283/.343/.407 with 1,220 hits, 225 doubles, 87 home runs, 454 RBIs, 190 stolen bases and an OPS+ of 102.

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