Torrid-hitting Giant making name for self MELKY CABRERA With loving assist from mother, he's arrived as a 'big-time player'

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The Melky Cabrera story must start with his first name. It is not short for Melchior, one of the three Magi who figure in the book that Cabrera reads before every game, the New Testament.

"Melky" is not a diminutive. His mother, Maria Teresa Astacio, simply liked it for the youngest of her three children, the only boy, who now would be an engineer instead of a ballplayer had he heeded her earliest wishes.

She came around when she recognized his athletic talent. That was years before he walked into the family home in the Dominican Republic at age 16 with a $200,000 signing bonus from the New York Yankees and told his mother, a nurse with very little money, to build herself a house.

Now 27, Cabrera has built a great life in the United States as a major-league hitter, one of the hottest around, who is destined to earn a big-time contract for 2013 and beyond that will make that 200 grand seem like pocket change. When he signs it, Maria Teresa Astacio surely will be on hand for a hug.

The Giants' left fielder wears his relationship with his mother on his sleeve and under it. Her name, Teresa, is tattooed down his right arm in large Old English letters. Where her name stops is a much tinier cursive tattoo that says, "Jesus," the first name of his father, Jesus Cabrera Martinez, a Boston cop he rarely saw.

When Cabrera began Double-A ball at Trenton, N.J., in 2005, his mother moved to the United States to live with him, to help and comfort him. She lives with him still in San Francisco.

Melky Cabera celebrates after his game-winning single in the bottom of the eleventh. The San Francisco Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 in 11 innings on a Melky Cabrera single that scored Brandon Belt on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif. less Melky Cabera celebrates after his game-winning single in the bottom of the eleventh. The San Francisco Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 in 11 innings on a Melky Cabrera single that scored Brandon ... more Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Torrid-hitting Giant making name for self 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

"I have lived with my mother, in the Dominican, here, anywhere," Cabrera said during a lengthy interview Wednesday translated by Giants Spanish-language broadcaster Erwin Higueros. "My mom is always with me. When I made my major-league debut I told her, 'That's it. You don't work anymore. I'm going to work and take care of you.' "

And vice versa.

"I need my mom for moral support plus to do the house things," he said as a half-smile crossed his face. "I don't know how to cook. I don't know how to wash. So my mom does that for me."

'Championship player'

In our culture, Cabrera would be called a "mama's boy," which equals soft. There is nothing soft about playing 155 games as Cabrera did for Kansas City last year, nothing soft about 201 hits or 18 home runs, or a record 51 hits for the Giants in May.

"He's a big, big, big-time player," former teammate Alex Rodriguez said when the Yankees were in Oakland last weekend. "He's a winning player, a big talent. He has (guts). He's a championship player. We won one with him here."

The Melky Cabrera who came to the Giants in an offseason trade from Kansas City is a different person from the lad who inhaled baseball and saw it as an avenue to escape poverty, like so many in his country.

Few get far. Cabrera found himself in pinstripes at age 20, touted as an heir to sainted center fielder Bernie Williams, who joked upon Cabrera's promotion to the majors in 2005, "I'm old news, man. I'm old news."

Cabrera was not ready. He was not Bryce Harper or Mike Trout or Giancarlo Stanton. He was a good young player in a city that expects its Yankees to be great. He was a regular or semi-regular in the majors from 2006-09 and hit .391 against the Angels to help the Bombers win the American League Championship Series en route to their '09 title.

But he did not live up to Gotham expectations.

"He was good here," said Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, one of Cabrera's best friends. "You've got to understand, we had too many big guys here. When you're not a home run guy or a guy like (Derek) Jeter who hits for average, it can be hard."

Early setback

Cabrera acknowledges he was rushed to the majors and found his early days uncomfortable.

"Part of the problem is, I wasn't part of the spring training," he said. "I didn't get to meet the players in that environment. When I got there, I didn't know anybody. Sometimes it's hard to play with superstars of that caliber. I didn't feel I got the opportunity to play or show my talent."

Cabrera did not become a star, and by the end of 2009, the Yankees cut the cord. Outfielder Brett Gardner, the Next Big Thing, was ready. The Yankees coveted Atlanta pitcher Javier Vazquez. Cabrera was part of the trade.

He went to the Braves in 2010 and had the worst year of his life. He slumped terribly to start the season. He was chunky and did not appear committed. Word was he and manager Bobby Cox did not get along, though Cabrera denied that and said, "As a matter of fact, I think he was a great manager."

Cast off in Atlanta

Cabrera hit .255 and drove in 42 runs in his first National League season. After the Giants eliminated Atlanta in the Division Series, the Braves non-tendered Cabrera and made him a free agent. For a still-young player that is rock bottom, his team essentially saying, "We don't want you and we can't trade you. So long and good luck."

His ascent began with interventions from the people - and spirit - he trusted most.

"First it was God who helped me change," he said, and then his mom and his agent, Juan Carlos Nuñez, who hammered Cabrera with the truth. He needed to commit every ounce of his being to baseball before a team would commit to him, and that started with his body.

For the first time, Cabrera did not return to the Dominican over the winter. He stayed in Miami for five months and worked with a personal trainer on nutrition and fitness. Nine days before Christmas, the Kansas City Royals took a $1.25 million flier on Cabrera and signed him for 2011.

Two-hundred-one hits, 18 homers and 87 RBIs later, the Royals traded Cabrera to the Giants for the pitcher they felt they needed, Jonathan Sanchez, and Cabrera is having an even better season in San Francisco.

Teammate Gregor Blanco said the change is more than physical.

"He's more mature right now," Blanco said. "He told me he was like every kid. He liked to have fun and be loud like a lot of Latin players. Now he's a grown man and he's figured out what person he wants to be. He's very quiet right now. He wants to be a role model."

Quiet person

It's hard to imagine Cabrera being loud anywhere. He is mousy quiet, not merely because of his limited English. He rarely makes noise in Spanish either.

"My mom tells me that's how I was when I was little, very quiet," Cabrera said. "I just like to be under the radar and concentrate and do my job."

Perhaps fatherhood has had an impact, too. Cabrera has two daughters, 3 and 1, who live with their mothers in New York and Orlando. He sees them periodically throughout the season and in the winter.

A glance at Cabrera's locker often reveals his Bible open to a page he wants to read before he takes the field. It's a solemn and personal ritual. He does not proselytize or try to convince anyone that 200 hits a year is in God's plan.

"I don't consider myself a Christian, but I do know you have to believe in God," he said. "You have to believe you're here for a reason. That's why I'm always reading the Bible."

With his hitting, fielding and arm, Cabrera has wormed his way into the hearts of Giants fans. Those hearts will be broken this winter if the team does not pony up the big dollars required to keep him, or if Cabrera seeks his fortune elsewhere. They do not have to worry that Cabrera is itching to leave.

"He likes it there," Cano said.

Cabrera is living a dream he had as a child. He has the Major League Baseball logo tattooed on his back and claims he got it when he was 10, at a time when Maria Teresa Astacio envisioned her son building structures, not a Most Valuable Player campaign.

"I have always liked the logo," he said. "Always in my mind I wanted to become a baseball player, but never did I think I was going to get here."

.373 NL-leading batting average 78 MLB-leading number of hits 38 Second-most runs in NL 6 NL-leading number of triples