There’s almost all positive news about the Cubs this week, as they took five of six from the Padres and Diamondbacks, the last five all in a row. Winning 15 of their last 18 games, the Cubs enter this week’s series against the second-place Reds two games in the lead of the NL Central.
Here’s who was hot and not for the Cubs over the past week.
Three up
Ian Happ continues his solid, consistent season
Happ batted .316/.519/.684 (6-for-19) over the week with two doubles, a triple, a home run and seven walks. That .519 OBP is very impressive and Happ is now
riding a career-high 24-game on-base streak. For the season, Happ leads the Cubs with eight home runs, 24 walks and 25 runs scored.
Here’s his home run, hit on Saturday [VIDEO].
Shōta Imanaga is also having an excellent year
Imanaga pitched just once this past week, but it was another excellent outing. He held the Diamondbacks scoreless for seven innings Saturday, allowing four hits with just one walk, and striking out five. Best of all this year, Imanaga has allowed just three home runs in 41.1 innings, and not more than one in any of his seven starts. His 0.847 WHIP ranks second in the National League (Tyler Glasnow, 0.824).
Here are the five K’s he registered on Saturday [VIDEO].
Ben Brown appears to have finally found his role
Brown is being used by Craig Counsell in high-leverage multi-inning relief and he has taken to it very, very well. Over this past week: 5.2 innings, 19 batters faced, one unearned run. Only three of the 19 batters he faced reached base, and on Wednesday in San Diego, he recorded five outs on just 11 pitches, including this key double-play ball [VIDEO].
H/T to Carson Kelly, who is quietly putting together a fine season.
Also a H/T to Michael Busch, who has shown signs of coming out of his early-season slump.
Three down
What is up with Alex Bregman?
Bregman did have a two-hit game last week — a game he didn’t start, he went 2-for-2 after entering in the seventh inning.
But overall, he batted just .190/.320/.238 (4-for-21) over the week, and hasn’t shown much power this year (four doubles, a triple, three home runs in 136 at-bats). He’s drawn 18 walks so his .333 OBP is decent.
Then he had a brain fart on a bunt on Friday that wound up going for a double.
The Cubs are winning without production from Bregman, so if he ever does get going, that’ll be a nice bonus.
Ryan Rolison and Corbin Martin have struggled
These guys are the back end of the bullpen and both have had good games this year — but not this past week. Martin walked the bases loaded Wednesday in San Diego and got bailed out by Brown. Then he had a two-run inning in garbage time Sunday. Rolison had been pretty good early on, then got hit hard by the D-backs Friday.
Both of these guys will probably not be on the roster once the Cubs’ injured relievers begin to return. It’s possible Ethan Roberts might replace Martin within the next couple of days.
Moisés Ballesteros had a rough week — until Sunday
Ballesteros went 1-for-20 in the first five games against the Padres and D-backs, though the one hit was a home run in San Diego. There were some thoughts that maybe the league was adjusting to him.
Then Moisés homered and singled on Sunday and in a key play, beat a throw to second base that wound up being very, very important [VIDEO].
Here’s why Ballesteros was able to beat that throw:
Cubs designated hitter Moisés Ballesteros, who is in the bottom four percent of sprint speed, per Statcast, took a big secondary lead on the play and beat out Arenado’s throw to second, giving the Cubs an extra out.
“It doesn’t matter how fast a runner you are; you can still take a great secondary and get there as fast as you can,” Counsell said. “I think we’ve stressed that to (Ballesteros). I think that’s important to (Ballesteros), and (he’s) had some pretty good examples of it and that’s another one.”
This is what good management and coaching can do. Good stuff.
