Ivy League Cubs

By: Jacob Zanolla

Isaac Paredes has been pretty bad since arriving in Chicago after the blockbuster trade that sent Christopher Morel to Tampa Bay, probably the most shocking move of Jed Hoyer’s tenure as the President of Baseball Operations. Paredes was an upgrade over Morel defensively and offensively, but it’s taken some time to see those results.

Paredes was once again fantastic on Sunday, going 2/4 with three runs batted in. He scored one run as well, along with drawing one walk. This marks the seventh straight game in which Paredes has drawn a walk, increasing his on base percentage to .344, one of the highest on the team.

After Wisdom botched a foul ball pop-up, Paredes turned a fantastic double play that limited the damage to one run in the second inning, the only time the Nationals scored that game. He’s made a few nice barehanded plays, as well as a some impressive sidearm throws. We knew Paredes would be a better defender than Morel, but the results have been better than I expected.

The latest road trip saw the Cubs go 8-1, with Paredes getting 41 plate appearances. He had a .281 average, a massive improvement from his first few weeks with Chicago. Paredes got on base almost once every two plate appearances, with those seven walks playing a big part in that.

He only hit one home run, yet still had a slugging percentage of .406. One big worry was that he only pulls the baseball, which was still true on this road trip. 63% of the balls he put in play were to the left side, but that doesn’t really matter if he’s getting on base, and giving the other hitters around him more chances to drive him in.

Even though Craig Counsell moved Paredes down in the batting order, the results are still there. Just another bat that has exploded as we enter into September.

Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated

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