On October 3rd, Orange County Register columnist Mark Whicker tweeted out comments made by Dodgers starting pitcher this ball as well as getting ridiculous reads on this ball and this ball. And remember catch in Detroit, which doesn't look as sexy as some of the plays we see on SportCenter’s top 10 every week, but shows just how ridiculous Cain is at reading balls off the bat and getting to them.

His...Bat?

The Royals defense has been a huge factor in getting them to the playoffs for the first time in nearly 30 years. The offense, however, has been mostly mediocre. Although the Royals lineup is very balanced and has no hitter that is a complete black hole, it still lacks good hitters. In fact, there were only two starters with an OPS+ of over 100. One was the Royals best player, Gordon, and the other was Lorenzo Cain. His OPS+ of 108 isn't great by any means, but when you consider the defense he plays and the fact that he registered just an 80 OPS+ in 2013, his development really shows.

2014 was the breakout year that Brewers scouts imagined Cain would have at some point. The raw nature of his baseball abilities makes it easy to believe it took him this long to figure it out with the bat, although he has shown the ability in the past. Cain has always been a line drive hitter, to a fault. Similar to teammate Billy Butler, his line-drive approach also results in a very high percentage of ground balls. So his splits in 2014 aren't surprising, as he boasted a 22.8% line-drive percentage and a career high 51.1% ground-ball percentage.

However, this season, we saw three things from Cain that we hadn't seen before. First, the BABIP gods loved him. His .380 BABIP was tops in the league of hitters with at least 500 plate appearances. Second, his speed finally became an active part of his game. Not only did he steal a career high 28 bases on only 33 attempts, but he also compiled 24 infield hits, which was the most on the Royals and the fourth most in the American league. Third, he smashed fastballs. For his career, Cain had never posted a wFB higher than 2.4. He shattered that mark, posting a 14.7 wFB in 2014. That’s the highest mark on the Royals, and it’s not really that close, as Gordon pasted an 11.8 wFB in 2014.

Cain Is the Player That Best Models the Royals' System

Lorenzo Cain is a very intriguing player. At 28, he's right in the middle of his physical prime and, if he can stay healthy, could become a very solid player over the next 2-3 years. His defense has always been suffocating, but Cain has finally taken the next step at the plate and although he did get a lot of help from his high BABIP, his line-drive percentage is high enough to assume he can at least continue being a decent singles guy. His activated speed has also provided a brand new threat to his game that has attributed heavily in the Royals reeking havoc on the basepaths and in the outfield. Cain best represents what the Royals emphasis in a player and, right now, he’s a pretty good representative.