The power comes from the legs.
And this past season, Miguel Cabrera's legs were not there.
Not in the first half, when the Detroit Tigers first baseman was still shaping into full form after offseason ankle surgery and certainly not in the second half, when he wasn't fully recovered from a left calf strain that shelved him for a month and a half.
"A lot of pain," he said Thursday afternoon at the Tigers' winter caravan kickoff at Comerica Park. "But it was something in my mind to push me hard to go out there and play. I want to be out there everyday."
And down the stretch, he was, just without that patented Cabrera power.
In 2015, he hit 18 home runs -- by far the lowest total in his 13-year career -- and only three in his final 42 games of the season. Cabrera did win his fourth American League batting title, hitting .338 in 119 games.
This spring, he will be come to the post in spring training at full health for the first time in two offseasons. After taking a three-week vacation at the conclusion of the season, he jumped right into an offseason training program.
"I feel really good," he said. "I can normally do my workouts, so it makes you feel excited, makes you feel for the first time I'm going to be ready in spring training and for the season."
In those workouts, which have often been documented in videos on his Instagram account, his focus has been strengthening those legs, which have been beat up over the past few seasons.
"My goal was to get in the best shape, so I'm not hurt this year," he said.
He has no doubt the calf injury was the main contributor to his power outage in 2015 -- "I can say I think the power will come back this year," Cabrera said -- but stressed he doesn't go up to the plate to hit the ball over the fence.
"I want my power," he said, "But you don't look for home runs. You look for good contact and try to be consistent. If you look to pull the ball in the gap, the home runs are going to come."
Swing-wise, he has concentrated on working his hips through the zone more this winter.
"Try to throw the hips at the ball more and be more explosive," he said. "I mean, I feel really good. I haven't faced any pitches yet, though. Let's wait and see what happens."
And if he feels as good as he says, it won't be any surprise what will.
