3 takeaways from the Chicago Cubs’ 5-1 homestand, including young pitchers getting a long look and a ‘scary’ number of HBP

Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune
·6 min read

Manager David Ross sat shortstop Javier Báez in the Chicago Cubs’ 6-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday at Wrigley Field after Báez was pulled from Saturday’s game with back stiffness.

It’s a concern when any player has to sit out with back issues, more so when it’s your top run producer.

But Ross suggested it was strictly precautionary and said Báez was “feeling better” Sunday morning. And Báez pinch-hit during the Cubs’ three-run ninth-inning rally, grounding out to second to end the game with the tying run on second.

“The main thing is to think a little bit more long term,” Ross said. “You can’t take a guy out every time he feels a bump or bruise.”

Yet that appears to be happening around baseball with greater frequency in 2021 as players stretch from the 60-game 2020 season back to a 162-game slate. Teams are trying to limit pitchers’ innings so they’ll still be strong in September — and hopefully October — while many position players come out of games whenever they feel a twinge.

Perhaps Major League Baseball can introduce a companion piece to the injured list for minor issues that aren’t serious enough to merit a 10-day stay on the IL. Sometimes you just need a “maintenance day,” as they say in the NHL when a player doesn’t practice for no specific reason.

Call it the “Abundance of Caution” list (or AOC list) and make it five days instead of 10. Managers wouldn’t have to make up explanations for players who are down that day, and players wouldn’t have to rush back if they need a rest.

Problem solved.

Here are three takeaways from the Cubs’ 5-1 homestand versus the Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers.

1. Kyle Hendricks still has the first-inning blues.

After a complete-game gem against the Dodgers on Tuesday, Hendricks gave up four first-inning runs Sunday on four singles and an error by shortstop Ildemaro Vargas.

None of the balls was hit particularly hard, including a two-run bloop single by Wilmer Difo on which center fielder Jake Marisnick strained his right hamstring while diving for the ball. A seeing-eye, ground single to right by Todd Frazier followed, aided by the Cubs’ shift, before Vargas, playing for Báez, threw wildly to first on a routine grounder.

Hendricks said it was “one of those days” and the Pirates “found some holes.”

“Definitely frustrating,” he said, “but you have to somehow not look at the result like that and have to be immersed in the process right now. Hopefully it will go my way next time.”

Nevertheless, Hendricks’ first-inning ERA in seven starts increased to 19.29. He allowed six first-inning runs to the Atlanta Braves on April 18 and four to the Braves on April 28 before Sunday’s early implosion.

After the Cubs scored a run in the second, Hendricks gave up two more in the third on an RBI triple off the right-field wall by Difo and an error by third baseman Matt Duffy. He lasted five innings but fell to 2-4 on the season.

Ross said afterward that Marisnick “hopefully will not be out too long” and that he pinch-hit for Jason Heyward in the ninth because Heyward had a “right hand thing that popped up.” Ross did not specify the extent of Heyward’s injury.

2. The Cubs’ young pitchers are getting a long look.

Keegan Thompson, the Cubs’ third-round pick out of Auburn in 2017, is one of four pitching prospects from the system on the current roster along with Adbert Alzolay, Justin Steele and Dillon Maples.

The Cubs have been lacking in the drafting and development of pitchers for more than a decade, so President Jed Hoyer needs to find out if these four can make their marks in 2021, especially if the team goes younger in 2022.

Steele hasn’t allowed a run in six of his seven appearances, including two scoreless innings Sunday, and he earned his first major-league win in relief in Tuesday’s nightcap against the Dodgers. He also made himself known with some wild gestures on his way to the dugout.

Thompson pitched 7⅔ shutout innings in a start and a relief appearance during the homestand and notched his first major-league win Saturday in relief against the Pirates.

Thompson and Steele throw in the 94 mph range and have had some early success without overpowering hitters, which pleases Ross.

“Pitch characteristic is important and stuff matters,” Ross said. “But how you’re able to control your mind and the heart rate and the heartbeat and emotions out there on the mound is sometimes just as important as how hard you throw.”

It’s early, but the Cubs believe both can become contributors for years.

“He’s calm, he’s a strike thrower,” Ross said of Thompson. “Things don’t get out of control. He’s one ground ball away (from escaping a jam) and he knows that. He’s an SEC guy, pitching on the weekends. It doesn’t seem like the moment fazes him.

“And with Steele, you saw that emotion come out in extra innings (against the Dodgers), but you would’ve never known that was bottled up inside as he was standing on the mound.”

3. The high number of hit by pitches is ‘scary,’ David Ross says.

Ross believes the start of the season has produced the most unintentional hit by pitches he has seen, and he placed some of the blame on so many young pitchers not pitching in 2020 due to the absence of a minor-league season and the fact they spent so much time throwing indoors during the shutdown.

“Sometimes (throwing) into a net and maybe not even to a catcher and a lot of times not to a hitter,” he said, “you’re just throwing and getting data from the Rapsodos and the Trackmans and all the technology and trying to spin it, rather than competing to zones with hitters and feeling that adrenaline out on the mound too.

“We’ve emphasized pitch data a lot in our games instead of just getting outs and pitchability.”

Ross called it “scary” that so many hard throwers are going up and in “with less control than I’ve seen in my lifetime.” He liked an idea he heard from Cubs analyst Jim Deshaies, who thinks MLB should institute penalties for pitches that hit batters up and in, just as the NHL has more severe penalties for drawing blood on high-sticking calls.

“Maybe a safe zone from the shoulder up where there is some kind of penalty involved,” Ross said, “and whether it’s on purpose or not, there is automatic fines … or suspension if that happens.”