Cubs Live
By; Ryan Melson (@RyanMelson1)
Here are the quick highlights from the weekend in Cubs land. I did not think it was possible, but the Cubs finally lost another game this spring with the loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks today. 1) Wizardry with the Glove. Javier Baez is ridiculous defensively. He flashed his leather again today, making a difficult play look easy. It will be very fun to see Addison Russell and Javier Baez up the middle for an entire season. 2) Budding star? On Saturday, Tyler Chatwood impressed yet again. I do not say this lightly: Chatwood is going to be really good in 2018, if he stays healthy. Chatwood pitched two beautiful innings on Saturday, and is poised to really surprise a lot of people. Leaving Coors Field was already going to benefit Chatwood, but pairing him with Jim Hickey and this Cubs defense will also be a major boost to a pitcher who has filthy pitches. 3) Lester update. Jon Lester started off a little rocky in the game today, but he bounced back in the third inning by striking out Paul Goldschmidt and Jake Lamb. His day was cut short in the third inning because he met his pitch count. 4) Throwing to First Base. Speaking of Lester, he was trying to re-create the 90’s Bulls with a signature Jordan-to-Pippen bounce pass today. While I appreciate the fact he wants to make the Bulls relevant again, I hope that his method of throwing to first base gets results. Lester said he “[doesn’t] care what it looks like...an out’s an out.” Style points do not win playoff games. Lester’s intensity and bounce pass to first is what will win us playoff games, folks. 5) Soothing Sounds of Pat & Ron. Music to my ears. Hearing Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer back in the booth yesterday and today made me even more happy baseball is back. 6) Leadoff Man. Jason Heyward is getting a shot in the leadoff hole. If Heyward can get back to his career hitting numbers before he was a Cub, then he would be a very nice fit as the leadoff man. Heyward is patient and he has speed, but you would like to see him make more hard contact and get his batting average and on-base percentage higher before you allow him to leadoff. 7) The bullpen. Justin Wilson pitched well once again in his outing on Saturday. That has to give Justin Wilson a lot of confidence early this spring. He is a special arm when he is on, and I cannot wait for Cub fans to see this from him in 2018. 8) Spring Training MVP. If the Cactus League does not crown Mike Freeman MVP of the spring right this moment, then I do not think they know baseball. Freeman had three hits on Saturday and is now hitting .588 on the spring. Freeman is the definition of GRIT. 9) Grimm Reaper Update. While he got through an inning without allowing a run, Justin Grimm was erratic once again today. He walked two in one inning. Grimm has not had the best showing this spring and that is quite unfortunate because getting a solid Grimm would have been a nice bonus for the Cubs. 10) Spring Debuts. Ben Zobrist is expected to play Tuesday. A healthy Zobrist would be very beneficial to the Cubs organization. The Cubs have been slow playing Zobrist’s sore back. Yu Darvish will get his first start on Tuesday. Everyone is looking forward to seeing that. 11) Pure Class. Since coming to the Cubs, Joe Maddon does his annual Respect Bald fundraiser in camp, which raises money for his Respect 90 Foundation. The Cubs raised at least $93,000 from this event over the weekend. This is yet another example of how selfless and giving the people in this organization are. Thank you for being you, Joe Maddon. 12) Sloan Park Is A Destination. Attendance at Sloan Park has been record breaking once again. On Saturday, there were 15,516 people at Sloan Park. This was the second largest crowd in Cactus league history, which was second to the Cubs at Sloan Park last season. Sloan Park is a really neat time, and it is definitely a destination people should go and check out as a family or with friends. I cannot wait to see you in a week, Sloan. 13) Maples Likely Head to Des Moines. Dillon Maples had another rough outing on Saturday. At this point, he is going to have to start the season at Triple A to work on his command.
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Kyle MalzhanFounder who is an aspiring journalist who covers the Chicago Cubs daily. Archives
April 2020
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