Editing (section) Melky Cabrera 0 You are not logged in. The rich text editor does not work with JavaScript switched off. Please either enable it in your browser options, or visit your preferences to switch to the old MediaWiki editor <h2>The Beginning and the Minors</h2> <p data-rte-fromparser="true">On <a data-rte-meta="%7B%22type%22%3A%22internal%22%2C%22text%22%3A%22November%2013%22%2C%22link%22%3A%22November%2013%22%2C%22wasblank%22%3Atrue%2C%22noforce%22%3Atrue%2C%22wikitext%22%3A%22%5B%5BNovember%2013%5D%5D%22%7D" data-rte-instance="560-10263584285de91ffb4b815" href="/wiki/November_13" title="November 13">November 13</a>, <a data-rte-meta="%7B%22type%22%3A%22internal%22%2C%22text%22%3A%222001%22%2C%22link%22%3A%222001%22%2C%22wasblank%22%3Atrue%2C%22noforce%22%3Atrue%2C%22wikitext%22%3A%22%5B%5B2001%5D%5D%22%7D" data-rte-instance="560-10263584285de91ffb4b815" href="/wiki/2001" title="2001">2001</a>, at age 17, Melky was signed by the New York Yankees. In 2002, at age 18, he made his pro debut with the Yankees Rookie League affiliate in the Dominican Summer League. In <a data-rte-meta="%7B%22type%22%3A%22internal%22%2C%22text%22%3A%222003%22%2C%22link%22%3A%222003%22%2C%22wasblank%22%3Atrue%2C%22noforce%22%3Atrue%2C%22wikitext%22%3A%22%5B%5B2003%5D%5D%22%7D" data-rte-instance="560-10263584285de91ffb4b815" href="/wiki/2003" title="2003">2003</a>, he made his first minor league appearance with the high Rookie team in the NY-Penn League with the <a data-rte-meta="%7B%22type%22%3A%22internal%22%2C%22text%22%3A%22Staten%20Island%20Yankees%22%2C%22link%22%3A%22Staten%20Island%20Yankees%22%2C%22wasblank%22%3Atrue%2C%22noforce%22%3Atrue%2C%22wikitext%22%3A%22%5B%5BStaten%20Island%20Yankees%5D%5D%22%7D" data-rte-instance="560-10263584285de91ffb4b815" href="/wiki/Staten_Island_Yankees" title="Staten Island Yankees">Staten Island Yankees</a>, batting .283 with 31 RBI in 67 games. In <a data-rte-meta="%7B%22type%22%3A%22internal%22%2C%22text%22%3A%222004%22%2C%22link%22%3A%222004%22%2C%22wasblank%22%3Atrue%2C%22noforce%22%3Atrue%2C%22wikitext%22%3A%22%5B%5B2004%5D%5D%22%7D" data-rte-instance="560-10263584285de91ffb4b815" href="/wiki/2004" title="2004">2004</a>, he moved up to A ball with the <a data-rte-meta="%7B%22type%22%3A%22internal%22%2C%22text%22%3A%22Battle%20Creek%20Yankees%22%2C%22link%22%3A%22Battle%20Creek%20Yankees%22%2C%22wasblank%22%3Atrue%2C%22noforce%22%3Atrue%2C%22wikitext%22%3A%22%5B%5BBattle%20Creek%20Yankees%5D%5D%22%7D" data-rte-instance="560-10263584285de91ffb4b815" class="new" title="Battle Creek Yankees (page does not exist)" rel="nofollow" data-uncrawlable-url="L3dpa2kvQmF0dGxlX0NyZWVrX1lhbmtlZXM/YWN0aW9uPWVkaXQmcmVkbGluaz0x">Battle Creek Yankees</a>, hitting .333 with 16 RBI in 42 games before being promoted to the high class A <a data-rte-meta="%7B%22type%22%3A%22internal%22%2C%22text%22%3A%22Tampa%20Yankees%22%2C%22link%22%3A%22Tampa%20Yankees%22%2C%22wasblank%22%3Atrue%2C%22noforce%22%3Atrue%2C%22wikitext%22%3A%22%5B%5BTampa%20Yankees%5D%5D%22%7D" data-rte-instance="560-10263584285de91ffb4b815" href="/wiki/Tampa_Yankees" title="Tampa Yankees">Tampa Yankees</a>, where he hit .288 with 51 RBI in 85 games to finish the season. In 2005, Cabrera started off with the Class AA <a data-rte-meta="%7B%22type%22%3A%22internal%22%2C%22text%22%3A%22Trenton%20Thunder%22%2C%22link%22%3A%22Trenton%20Thunder%22%2C%22wasblank%22%3Atrue%2C%22noforce%22%3Atrue%2C%22wikitext%22%3A%22%5B%5BTrenton%20Thunder%5D%5D%22%7D" data-rte-instance="560-10263584285de91ffb4b815" href="/wiki/Trenton_Thunder" title="Trenton Thunder">Trenton Thunder</a>, hitting .275 with 60 RBI in 106 games. At the end of June, he was called up to the AAA <a data-rte-meta="%7B%22type%22%3A%22internal%22%2C%22text%22%3A%22Columbus%20Clippers%22%2C%22link%22%3A%22Columbus%20Clippers%22%2C%22wasblank%22%3Atrue%2C%22noforce%22%3Atrue%2C%22wikitext%22%3A%22%5B%5BColumbus%20Clippers%5D%5D%22%7D" data-rte-instance="560-10263584285de91ffb4b815" href="/wiki/Columbus_Clippers" title="Columbus Clippers">Columbus Clippers</a>. On July 7, 2005, he made his major league debut. However, he only played six games before he was moved back down to Columbus. In 2006, he started the season in Columbus, but due to injuries to <a data-rte-meta="%7B%22type%22%3A%22internal%22%2C%22text%22%3A%22Hideki%20Matsui%22%2C%22link%22%3A%22Hideki%20Matsui%22%2C%22wasblank%22%3Atrue%2C%22noforce%22%3Atrue%2C%22wikitext%22%3A%22%5B%5BHideki%20Matsui%5D%5D%22%7D" data-rte-instance="560-10263584285de91ffb4b815" href="/wiki/Hideki_Matsui" title="Hideki Matsui">Hideki Matsui</a> and <a data-rte-meta="%7B%22type%22%3A%22internal%22%2C%22text%22%3A%22Gary%20Sheffield%22%2C%22link%22%3A%22Gary%20Sheffield%22%2C%22wasblank%22%3Atrue%2C%22noforce%22%3Atrue%2C%22wikitext%22%3A%22%5B%5BGary%20Sheffield%5D%5D%22%7D" data-rte-instance="560-10263584285de91ffb4b815" href="/wiki/Gary_Sheffield" title="Gary Sheffield">Gary Sheffield</a>, he became the everyday left fielder for the Yankees. </p><p /> <!-- Saved in parser cache with key baseball:rte-parser-cache:5470 --> Loading editor Below are some commonly used wiki markup codes. 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