The Chicago Cubs have been without start third baseman Kris Bryant for a few weeks now as he continues to deal with a shoulder injury.
Manager Joe Maddon described his discomfort while watching Bryant run through a series of training exercises. Maddon was reluctant to tell the media a specific time on when Bryant would be back in a recent press conference saying that he hasn’t heard “anything new” from the training staff.
Bryant initially hurt his shoulder in May and played through the injury until he was placed on the disabled list in late June. The former MVP came back to the lineup in mid-July but was then placed back on the DL almost two weeks later.
With all of the negativity surrounding the Cubs on what their replacement options were, they turned to David Bote.
Right from the start, Bote has been more than what the Cubs were asking for. He proved his worth in his first game as Bryant’s replacement. He showed that he is useful offensively, with his RBI single and game-tying homer, as well as defensively with his diving stop at second base that saved the Cubs a pair of runs.
After his debut, Maddon looked like he was in another one of his Binny’s Beverage Depot commercials, happy as could be. Since then, Bote has been sharing the hot corner with Ian Happ and Javier Baez. However, this isn’t the ideal lineup that Cubs fans want to see going into the last two months of the season.
With the absence of Kris Bryant, David Bote has turned out to be a formidable addition to the organization. Could be possibly be the spark plug off the bench in the postseason, or a potential starter in the postseason if the Cubs’ MVP third baseman isn’t healthy by October?
His performance in recent games have shown that the answers to those questions is ‘yes’.Hitting in the third and fifth spots, respectively, Bote had two solid hits both games. He’s hitting .344 and has a .436 on base percentage.
No one in Chicago is ready to give up on Kris Bryant, but the city sleeps a little sounder knowing that David Bote is filling his cleats. He has a chance to convince Chicago that he shouldn’t be playing in Iowa and instead should be a regular addition to the 25-man roster.
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