Following a stellar baseball career at Broward Community College and a preceding injury that nearly ended his career, outfielder Chris Cabrera is seeking the next big step of reaching his dream of playing Major League Baseball someday.
The Miami Lakes resident is mulling playing for either the University of Maine, Lee University or University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, but he won’t announce his decision until this month’s MLB draft.
The son of Art Cabrera, a former high school basketball coaching legend, Chris Cabrera said his father, Broward Community College head coach Ben Bizier and Mater Academy head coach Mike Dirosa, are giving him pointers to improve his skills to compete with top-tier players.
“I have the ability to hit but I need to work more on my defense,” he said. “I’m getting better at it but I got to play better on defense.”
Cabrera, 5-11 and 195 pounds, batted .382, hit three home runs, had 15 doubles and 40 RBI this past season for the Seahawks.
He was named to the FCSAA All-State Team and All-Southen Conference Team for his performance in 2017.
Cabrera said playing under Bizier made him a better student-athlete.
“Coach Bizier was big on academics,” he said. “His goal is to make you a better person on and off the field.”
Cabrera stepped up big for the Seahawks this past season but their match-up with cross-town rival Miami-Dade College perhaps was his best performance.
Down 2-0 in the top of the fifth inning, Alex Carballo led off with a solo home run and Cabrera completed the rally with a three-run homer to help the Seahawks defeat the Sharks, 8-2. Carballo went 4 for 6 and scored twice, and walked, scored a run and finished with four RBI.
He also belted another home run, a towering blast over the right center wall off of Sharks starting ace Nelson Alvarez.
But if it wasn’t for his perseverance at Mater Academy, Cabrera would’ve never made his mark in junior college baseball.
A near career-ending injury during his senior season in high school left his future in doubt after he tore his ACL.
He endured six months of rigorous rehabilitation and some college scouts thought he may lose a step or two.
But his two college seasons proved otherwise and now he’s seeking to take his talent to an NCAA school.
Cabrera said his father, Bizier and Dirosa were his biggest supporters who helped him develop as a good college baseball player.
But the prospects of a career in Major League Baseball is unpropitious.
“Making it to the pros is very difficult but if it happens down the line than it’s a bonus for him,” Bizier said. “If it’s something he set his sights on and go after, than you never know.”
Though his father doesn’t have a baseball background, Cabrera said he’s been pushing him to play better since he was teenager.
Art Cabrera was a longtime basketball head coach for Goleman High School and longtime assistant coach at Miami High, which won multiple state titles in the 1980s and 1990s.
Chris Cabrera said his father helped him develop a good work ethnic to practice and play hard at all times.
“He was tough but he wanted me to play hard,” he said. “He said there will be a lot of failures but he helped me stay positive all the time. He has been right by my side to encourage me.”
Cabrera said he would like to play for his hometown team, the Miami Marlins, but won’t mind donning a Chicago Cubs uniform someday.
“My father is from Chicago and he took me to a Cubs’ game,” he said. “It was awesome.”