José Miguel Cabrera Torres (born April 18, 1983), nicknamed Miggy, is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player who played as a first baseman, third baseman, and designated hitter in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida Marlins and Detroit Tigers. He began his MLB career in 2003 and played for 21 seasons. During his career, he won the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) award twice, was the AL batting champion four times, and was selected to the MLB All-Star team 12 times. Before 2006, he mainly played in left and right field, but later played mostly at first and third base. In 2012, he won the Triple Crown, which means he led the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in (RBI). This was the first Triple Crown in 45 years. Cabrera is one of only three players in MLB history to have a career batting average above .300, 500 home runs, and 3,000 hits, along with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. He is considered one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.
At age 16, Cabrera signed with Tigres de Aragua of the Venezuelan Winter League, where he recorded his first professional hit in December 1999. In 1999, he signed as an amateur free agent with the Florida Marlins and moved up through their minor league system. He made his MLB debut in 2003 at age 20 and helped the Marlins win the World Series that year. He played regularly for the Marlins for four seasons before being traded to the Detroit Tigers before the 2008 season.
In 2012, Cabrera became the first player since 1967 to win the batting Triple Crown. He led the AL with a .330 batting average, 44 home runs, and 139 RBI, earning the AL MVP award. In the first half of 2013, Cabrera was on track to set new personal records, including hitting 30 home runs and 90 RBI before the All-Star break. However, injuries affected his performance later in the season, reducing his playing time. Despite this, he still improved his batting average to a career-high .348 and won the AL MVP award again.
Cabrera won four AL batting titles, including three in a row from 2011 to 2013. He batted over .300 in 11 seasons, hit 30 or more home runs in 10 seasons, and drove in over 100 runs in 12 seasons (including 11 straight seasons from 2004 to 2014). He holds the records for most career home runs and hits by a Venezuelan player, surpassing Andrés Galarraga and Omar Vizquel. He joined the 500 home run club in 2021 and the 3,000 hit club in 2022, becoming the seventh player in MLB history to reach both milestones. In international competitions, he played for Venezuela in five World Baseball Classic tournaments from 2006 to 2023. Cabrera retired after the 2023 season and now works for the Tigers’ organization as a special assistant to the president of baseball operations. In 2026, he served as the hitting coach for Venezuela’s team in the World Baseball Classic, which won its first championship.
Early life
Cabrera was born in Maracay, Aragua State, Venezuela, to his parents, Miguel Cabrera and Gregoria Torres de Cabrera. When he was young, Cabrera was interested in both volleyball and baseball. His mother's brother, David Torres, helped guide him in his early years. At the age of 14, he joined a baseball school in Cagua so he could keep studying and continue playing baseball.
Professional career
Miguel was signed by the Marlins in 1999 as an amateur free agent and played with future major league players Adrián González and Dontrelle Willis through their farm system.
He began his professional career in 2000 as a shortstop in the Gulf Coast League (GCL). After batting .260 with 10 doubles, two triples, and two home runs in 57 games for the GCL Marlins, Cabrera was promoted to Class-A ball. In the final eight games, he batted .250 with 6 RBIs for the New York–Penn League (NYPL) Blue Sox in Utica, New York. During the winter, while playing for the Tigres de Aragua in the Venezuelan Winter League, manager Bill Plummer moved Cabrera from shortstop to third base.
In 2001, the Marlins promoted Cabrera to the Low Class-A Kane County Cougars. He earned a spot in the Futures Game during All-Star Weekend in Seattle, along with González. He finished the season batting .268 with 30 extra-base hits, 66 RBIs, and was noted for having the strongest arm in the Midwest League.
In 2002, Cabrera was promoted to the High Class-A Jupiter Hammerheads of the Florida State League. At the request of Marlins coach Ozzie Guillén, Cabrera switched from shortstop to third base. By July, his batting average was .277, and he led his team with 45 RBIs, earning a second trip to the Futures Game, where he hit two singles. He finished the season batting .278 with 43 doubles and 75 RBIs. Up to this point, he had hit nine home runs in 489 at-bats.
At the start of 2003, Cabrera was promoted to the Double-A Carolina Mudcats. There, he played with Willis, the left-handed pitcher who would later join him in the majors. In April, he batted .402, and by June, his average was .365 with 10 home runs and 59 RBIs before being called up to the majors.
Cabrera made his major league debut on June 20, 2003, at the age of 20. In his first game, he hit a walk-off home run against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, becoming the third player since 1900 to achieve this feat, following Billy Parker in 1972 and Josh Bard in 2002. His strong performance in July earned him the role of cleanup hitter for the Marlins. His postseason play helped the Marlins win the World Series against the New York Yankees, and he appeared on the cover of ESPN The Magazine during the offseason. He finished fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, while teammate Dontrelle Willis won the award.
In the NLDS against the Giants, Cabrera batted .286 with three RBIs. During the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs, he changed positions and batted .333 with three home runs and six RBIs, including clutch home runs in Game 1 and Game 7 that gave the Marlins crucial leads. In Game 4 of the 2003 World Series against the Yankees, Cabrera faced Roger Clemens for the first time in his career. In the first inning, Clemens threw a 92-mph fastball near Cabrera’s chin, prompting Cabrera to turn and stare at Clemens. Later in the at-bat, Cabrera hit a pitch to deep right field for a two-run home run, giving the Marlins an early 2–0 lead. The Marlins won the game 4–3, evening the series at two games apiece. Cabrera and the Marlins went on to win the 2003 World Series in six games.
In his first season, Cabrera batted .268 (84-for-314), with 12 home runs, 62 RBIs, 39 runs, 21 doubles, and three triples in 87 games played. He received NL Rookie of the Month honors for both July and September.
On April 20, 2004, Cabrera recorded his 100th career hit, an RBI single in the seventh inning against Roberto Hernández. In 2004, he batted .294 with 33 home runs, 112 RBIs, 101 runs, 177 hits, a .366 on-base percentage, and a .512 slugging percentage from the third and fourth spots in the lineup. He played in 160 games and earned his first All-Star appearance. Cabrera spent the entire 2004 season playing in the outfield and had 13 outfield
International career
Cabrera played for the Venezuela national baseball team in international competitions. Before the 2006 MLB season, Cabrera played for Venezuela in the first World Baseball Classic. The Venezuelan team finished seventh in that tournament.
Cabrera was chosen to play for Venezuela in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He played with his Tigers teammates Magglio Ordóñez, Carlos Guillén, and Armando Galarraga.
Cabrera also played in the 2013, 2017, and 2023 World Baseball Classic tournaments. In the 2026 World Baseball Classic, Cabrera worked as the hitting coach for Venezuela. Venezuela won its first-ever World Baseball Classic championship during that tournament.
Post-playing career
On September 29, 2023, two days before the end of the season, the Tigers said Cabrera would stay with the team as a special assistant to the president of baseball operations, Scott Harris. In this role, he joins other special assistants such as Hall of Famer Alan Trammell and former Tigers manager Jim Leyland.
Personal life
Cabrera is active in the community. In 2012, he started The Miguel Cabrera Foundation to support children's programs. He also uses the foundation to promote baseball and softball for young people. In 2012 and 2013, Cabrera was nominated by his team for the Roberto Clemente Award, which honors an MLB player who best represents baseball both on and off the field.
Cabrera practices both Catholicism and Santería. He became a babalawo during the 2006 offseason. His wife, Rosangel, and he had two daughters and one son. Rosangel filed for divorce in April 2017 but later withdrew the request. She filed for divorce again, and the divorce was finalized in June 2025. Cabrera also has two other children from a previous relationship, a boy and a girl, who lived in Orlando, Florida, and were six and three years old in January 2019.
In 2017, during Venezuela's economic crisis, Cabrera criticized the country's government. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cabrera appeared in a Spanish-language rap song titled "Miggy al Bate," which means "Miggy at Bat" in English. The song was created with Venezuelan actor and musician Carlos Madera, known as Sibilino.
On October 3, 2009, police were called to Cabrera's home after an argument with his wife. He returned home at 6:00 a.m. following a night of drinking and was later seen at a game with scratches on his face. Cabrera said the scratches came from his dog and refused to comment further. Later reports stated his blood alcohol level was .26 at the time.
On January 21, 2010, it was reported that Cabrera spent three months in an alcohol abuse treatment center to address his addiction. He said he had not consumed alcohol since being taken into custody in October 2009 and planned to continue treatment during spring training and the regular season.
On February 16, 2011, Cabrera was arrested in Florida for drunken driving and resisting arrest. He agreed to a "no contest" plea for driving under the influence, and the resisting charge was dropped. He received no additional jail time.
In 2018, Cabrera was in a Florida court for a case involving child support. In August 2017, his former mistress, Belkis Mariella Rodriguez, sued him over the amount of child support for their two children. She claimed he should pay $100,000 monthly due to his $30 million annual salary. Cabrera had been paying $20,000 monthly without a court order but reduced the amount by $5,000 in 2017. In December 2018, the Orange County Circuit Court ordered Cabrera to pay $20,000 monthly in child support, additional expenses, and Rodriguez's legal fees.