Ivy League Cubs

By: Jake Russell

Well, the Cubs wrapped up their West Coast trip with a 2:40 start against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. And, somehow, the Cubs ended up winning a series against the Diamondbacks? I mean, what a sigh of relief–I think we all had PTSD after those brutal series’ late last year.

Now, I have to combine my takeaways from the Mariners series with the Diamondbacks–I was pretty busy this last week, but there is quite a lot to discuss here.

First of all, two series wins is always a great thing to see. Yeah, the Mariners and Diamondbacks are both struggling a bit and under .500 at the moment, but these are still two clearly good teams that the Cubs have had to face, and they took care of business. The thing I have loved the most about this Cubs west coast trip is just the resilience. I mean, they lost an absolute heartbreaker against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday, where they led by 3 and then ended up blowing the lead. It just feels like last year’s Cubs would have come out the next day, lifeless and dead. But this time? Nope. They came out the next day and convincingly won 5-3 (behind a huge outing from Hayden Wesneski, who was called up at 1 AM that morning).

The same thing happened when they played the Padres–after blowing an 8-run lead, they could have just rolled over, but instead won the next day (although they still lost the series, at least they didn’t get swept).

Plus, during that second game, the Cubs got down early, came back, got down again, and then came back again (even though they ended up losing–this team’s resilience is so good).

Ben Brown still looked pretty good, as he was the only pitcher to go 6 innings in either series, as he went 6 innings with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks against the Diamondbacks in game one to give the Cubs a win. I think the best thing about Ben Brown is that he seems to sustain his velocity throughout the start, and averaged 96.5 MPH on his fastball. His curveball is also really good, but he’s still a two-pitch pitcher with poor command, and poor contact suppression abilities. I think his stuff will play a lot better out of the bullpen, and it seems like he might move to the bullpen since Taillon is returning. But there is still a big ceiling for Brown, and I’d like to see him continue to grow as a starter.

The other big storyline–at least among starting pitchers–is Kyle Hendricks. Is it time to be worried about him, and to what extent? As I mentioned last week, Hendricks is seeing a huge increase in arm-side movement on his fastball, sinker, and changeup, and that did not change in his last start versus Arizona. I am definitely beginning to worry, and the leash for him should be getting shorter, but I still think he can turn it around. His velocity hasn’t been a problem, his contact suppression has largely been fine (although he has allowed just a 33rd percentile barrel%), it just really feels like the command has been off. He still has a 103 Stuff+ on the year, though, which definitely makes me at least partially feel he can still figure it out. The Marlins offense is pretty brutal, so we’ll have to see how he does against them, but if he gets roughed up another time, I just don’t know if it can keep going.

Offensively, Nico Hoerner seems to be getting back on track, as his wRC+ is back up to 106, along with career-bests (so far) in xwOBACON, BB%, sweet-spot%, and, perhaps most importantly, overall xwOBA. I wrote about his “New Approach” last week over at North Side Baseball, and it seems like maybe results are finally coming. I really hope they are, because it would be HUGE for the Cubs if Nico Hoerner was a 110 wRC+ hitter!

Again, I just wanna really stress how impressed I am with the Cubs resilience right now. It may not seem like much, but just from a fan perspective, I am really excited to see how they have reacted to adversity. It just gives me so much more confidence. (Also can we talk about Bellinger finally getting a couple of clutch knocks last night? Phenomenal!)

MVP of the Series’: Michael Busch

Was there any other option? Busch had a near 1.500 OPS over the past two series, to go along with 4 home runs (which was the tail end of a 5 game home run streak). He also led the team in walks and hits across the six games. The plate approach from him, as a rookie, is just so impressive, and you really get the feeling that he can be a top-of-the-order type of guy.

Picture Credit: Lindsey Wasson, Associated Press