Cubs Live
Today, the Cubs signed Tyler Chatwood to a 3-year $38 million contract. While the numbers for the 27-year-old RHP look rough at first glance, they are very deceiving. This past season for the Rockies, he posted a 4.69 ERA to go along with a 7.31 K/9 and a 4.69 BB/9 for an 8-15 record. None of those numbers are glamorous in any way, but if you look at how he’s performed away from Coors Field, it’s obvious why the Cubs are so thrilled with this signing. In 77-1/3 innings away from Coors last season, he posted a 3.49 ERA, a 1.228 WHIP and his opponents hit .200 against him to compare to .302 at home. He also had the best road ERA in all of baseball in 2016 when he posted a 1.69 and his 2.57 road ERA the last two seasons is tied with Stephen Strasburg for 2nd in the NL behind Clayton Kershaw. Obviously, we can’t expect him to come in and immediately be elite because he’s no longer consistently pitching at elevation, but these numbers are enough to get excited about. Combine his 58.1 % groundball rate, which was 5th best in baseball in 2017, with the Cubs infield defense that had the best defensive efficiency against grounders in 2017 and he can have a superb 2018 campaign.
My greatest concerns for Chatwood is his durability and his control. The man is 27 years old and has never made more than 27 starts in a season or thrown more than 160 innings. There can be a lot of reasons for this and maybe this will end once he gets to Chicago, but it is cause for concern. His BB% over the last two seasons is also the worst in baseball out of 86 qualified starting pitchers, so that’s clearly something that needs to be fixed, but I am optimistic about this signing. He doesn’t need to be a star and I think he’ll excel in his role as our 4th/5th starter. Welcome to Chicago, Tyler Chatwood. We’re glad to have you.
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Kyle MalzhanFounder who is an aspiring journalist who covers the Chicago Cubs daily. Archives
April 2020
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