PEORIA, Ariz. — Robinson Cano is ready to go.
“Every year I go back home and, by January, I just want to play baseball,” Cano said Saturday after taking his physical examination at the Seattle Mariners’ complex.
“You get that feeling when you walk in the first day. You see your teammates, and you just want to play baseball. I just can’t wait for opening day.”
The Mariners hold their first full-squad workout Sunday at the Peoria Sports Complex. They open their 36-game Cactus League schedule on Feb. 25 against San Diego at Peoria Stadium.
Cano admits he tracked the club’s offseason roster moves from his home in the Dominican Republic, where he spent the winter working out with new infield partner Jean Segura.
“Last year, we just missed (postseason),” Cano said. “We were pretty close, and (general manager Jerry Dipoto) is just trying to make the team better…He wants to win. As a player, that’s what you want.”
Regarding Segura, Cano said: “He came onboard (last year), and we started working with my hitting coach. He changed the way he worked out, and you could see the change last year.
“He had a great season and, hopefully, he’ll have the same this year.”
Cano is also looking forward to playing next month in the World Baseball Classic. He served as the captain in 2013 when the Dominican Republic made an unbeaten run through the tournament.
“There are so many Dominican players,” he said, “they’re not all able to represent their country. That’s something, when you retire, you look back and say, ‘We won the WBC as Dominicans.’”
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