Remember last year when both Nelson Velázquez and Alexander Canario were benched the day after achieving a Grand Slam? What if the latter could have provided an offensive spark to a team that desperately needed some youthful energy and mainly sat on the bench because the Cubs preferred the players who had brought them to this point? This stubborn reluctance, or in some cases outright refusal, to develop young players was one of the reasons David Ross was replaced by Craig Counsell in the winter.
And who would have thought? Counsell’s willingness to let some of his guys gain experience despite a lack of immediate performance caused some to doubt his fitness. However, as we have seen over the last month or more, some of those initial growing pains resulted in players at the bottom of the lineup performing very well. What follows will be very brief as I have just realised that I have several other posts to write in addition to various errands.
I could have sworn I wrote about it just a week ago or two years ago, but it turns out I just tweeted about it. Or maybe I wrote about it and just can’t find it. Weird.
Be that as it may, Pete Crow-Armstrong only had a .186 batting average with a .505 OPS and a wRC+ of 44 in his first 190 at-bats. Since then, he’s only had a .299 batting average with an .878 OPS and a wRC+ of 139 in his last 83 at-bats. That’s enough to know it’s not just a matter of luck, and besides, he just seems a lot more relaxed out there.
Then there are heroics like his inside-the-park home run on Friday night in Miami.
PCA just ran from one target to the other in 14 seconds. pic.twitter.com/tYLhntYjlY
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) 23 August 2024
Amaya’s first 195 PAs produced very similar results to his teammate: .180 average, .522 OPS and 46 wRC+ with a stronger leg kick. After a little brainstorming with coaches and some people outside the organization, hitting coach Dustin Kelly helped Amaya take a quieter step that has seen him become louder ever since. In his last 89 plate appearances, he has a .309 batting average with an .892 OPS and a 148 wRC+, including five home runs.
One of them crowned Friday’s victory.
Miggy’s striking performance?
VERY RESERVED, VERY CAREFUL. pic.twitter.com/beLjZBFMxd
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) 24 August 2024
Maybe the Logan O’Hoppe rumors got him fired up a little too. Regardless, when the eight and nine batters in the lineup are playing like this, the Cubs are a lot more fun to watch. Nobody likes to be in trouble, and we can all agree that it would have been great if the whole season had looked like this, but if those two players emerge, and at top defensive positions at that, Jed Hoyer could be used more specifically in the winter.