Melky Cabrera (born August 11, 1984 in Santo Domingo
Oeste, Dominican Republic) is a Major League
Baseball outfielder for the New York Yankees.
On November 13, 2001, at age 17, Melky was signed by
the New York Yankees. In 2002, at age 18, he made
his pro debut in the Yankees Rookie League affiliate
at the Dominican Summer League. In 2003, he made his
first minor league appearance with the low class A
ball in the NY-Penn League with the Staten Island
Yankees, batting .283 with 31 RBI in 67 games. In
2004, he moved up to the higher A ball Battle Creek
Yankees, hitting .333 with 16 RBI in 42 games before
being promoted to the high class A Tampa Yankees,
where he hit .288 with 51 RBI in 85 games to finish
the season. In 2005, Cabrera started off with the
Class AA Trenton Thunder, hitting .275 with 60 RBI
in 106 games. At the end of June, he was called up
to the AAA Columbus Clippers. 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 Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield, he
became the everyday left fielder for the Yankees.
