Over the past four seasons, Melky Cabrera has averaged 602 at-bats. At the age of 33, he has 13 seasons of major league experience.
Yet the lifetime .286 hitter (which is 36th among active players), who also has a .335 on-base percentage and a .418 slugging percentage, is one of many who can’t get a job with the new way Major League Baseball is conducting business.
How do you go overnight from a major league staple to a player who is not even in a major league camp to show what he can do?
No one is more shocked by this turn of events than the switch-hitting corner outfielder and former Yankee.
“I still have a lot to give baseball,’’ Cabrera told The Post through a translator. “I love the game. It’s been my passion ever since I was born. It’s who I am.’’
Every day, Cabrera goes to work. He doesn’t have a team, but he is doing everything he can to get ready for a season that may not come.
In the morning, he gets up early and goes to yoga class to stay limber. He works on his core at a gym and practices baseball every day just as he would at a major league camp.
Only, instead of practicing with fellow major leaguers as he had done for the previous 13 seasons, he is working with high school and college players and a batting coach in a ballpark near his home in Tampa.
“This has been tough,’’ Cabrera admitted. “I’m ready to play. I’ve been training. I am always ready this time of year to play, physically and mentally. I’m working on my technique and my fundamentals. My body and mind are ready, more than ready. I will keep preparing until the time I get a contract.’’
Cabrera has averaged 12 outfield assists each of the past three years and committed just two errors last season.
Teams have shown interest, but there are no offers on the table, so Cabrera continues to work out and wait. Cabrera came to the majors with the Yankees in 2005 at the age of 20. There is the perception he is older than 33, but he is just one year older than the Mets’ Yoenis Cespedes and Todd Frazier.
Cabrera has played 1,676 major league games and owns 6,250 at bats. He is well liked in the clubhouse too.
“He’s a great player,” White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu, Cabrera’s teammate from 2015-17, told reporters, “but he’s a better teammate.’’
Cabrera has made more than $70 million in the game. He said he wants to continue to play because he knows he has a lot to contribute. He is not ready for retirement.
Veteran players are being squeezed out for cheaper, younger players.
Cabrera said he often hears from friends in the majors.
“They check on me just to tell me to stay positive and keep working out,’’ he said. “They tell me the opportunity will come, they give me much support. They don’t understand why no team has signed me. They are surprised that I am not in camp somewhere. My wife has given a lot of support as well.
“I still feel young, I am only 33, I’m just waiting for the opportunity. I know my career is going to finish at some point but at this point, I’m not there yet, I still have a lot to give to the game. I’m just looking to play.’’
Real major league players don’t have real major league jobs.
The Players Association recently filed a grievance against the Marlins, Athletics, Pirates and Rays, accusing the teams of not spending revenue money.
Noted Todd Frazier: “We want to play against the best players and we can’t do that. It’s very unfortunate what’s going on.’’
“This is a tough situation on everybody,’’ Cabrera said. “It’s tough on the families too. I thought I would be signed by now and would be at spring training. It’s not about a multi-year contract or money, it’s about playing the game I love.’’
A game in which Cabrera averaged 602 at-bats the past four years, but suddenly can’t even get in the batter’s box.