The past few seasons the Chicago Cubs were a team that depended on the home run ball way too much when it came to scoring runs. Home runs are great, but teams that often rely on hitting home runs usually strikeout a lot more as a result.
The Cubs definitely in the past fit that description which is why this past offseason they made a change at hitting coach with removing Anthony Iapoce from the staff. In 2021, the Cubs hit only .237 as team under Iapoce, so a change was needed.
Last November, the Cubs front office brought in Greg Brown to be the new hitting coach. Brown will be the seventh different hitting coach in the past eleven years. Jed Hoyer and the rest of the front office is hoping that Brown is the guy to help turn things around for the Cubs offense.
What the Cubs are looking to be more with this current roster. Focusing more on contact and trying to cut down the amount of strikeouts that they have had in recent years. When you look at this Cubs roster it does feature more guys who should put the ball in play more overall.
Nick Madrigal and Seiya Suzuki are two examples of guys with great contact rates. Both players throughout their careers are guys who do not strikeout much because they are able to put the ball in play for the majority of their at bats, or draw the walk and reach base.
Putting the ball in the play does put more pressure on the defense to make the plays, but it also can result into grounding into more double plays at the same time. So far this year the Cubs in a small sample size have been hit hard early on with grounding into double plays.
Currently the Cubs are the leaders when it comes to grounding Into double plays per game at 1.50. Could some of this just be bad luck? Sure, but the Cubs hitters are hoping when contact is made more in the futures that it starts finding more holes and not into double plays.
On a positive note, the Cubs are currently second in doubles hit per game. Only the Phillies have better numbers for doubles per games at 2.56, while the Cubs are at 2.50 entering Mondays game against Tampa Bay.
Patrick Wisdom whacks a two-run double to left-center field, helping the Cubs claw back, 8-3, in the top of the 7th inning pic.twitter.com/4MQs90kqI5
— Cubs Highlights (@Cubs_Highlights) April 17, 2022
One player who has helped the Cubs success when it comes to doubles is Patrick Wisdom. If there was one guy who needed a good weekend at the plate it was Wisdom. He had five doubles in the last three games of the series against the Rockies. Wisdom was really struggling at the plate coming into the Rockies series, but sometimes all a player needs is a few games at Coors Field to start feeling good at the plate again.
Let’s see if Wisdom can keep his hot streak going against the Tampa Bay Rays starting on Monday night at Wrigley Field.
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