Welcome back to the Cubs Beat newsletter. Jordan Bastian has covered baseball for MLB.com since 2005, including the Cubs since the 2019 season. |
ST. LOUIS -- Players took turns heading to the top of the stairwell that led to the visitors’ batting cage at Busch Stadium on Sunday afternoon, amused by the sight of the ankle-deep flood below. As heavy rain pounded the ballpark, water was pouring into the dugout and tunnel, forcing the Cubs to adjust their pregame routine. “It’s fine. It’s good, actually. It’s something different,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It happens. We’ll be all right for a day without the cages.” With the typical cage schedule paused, Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly stood outside the coaches’ locker room with a coffee in hand. Kelly took some time to chat about a handful of Chicago’s hitters with a small group of reporters. Here are some of the highlights of that conversation: Q: Dating back to last year, Michael Busch hadn’t experienced an extended cold spell like he did recently. What did you see within his at-bats over the last month or so?
DK: “The only thing that we’ve had to monitor him with has just been kind of the timing of the leg kick and the timing of the forward move. What we’ve seen in the last couple weeks is that move has gotten a little bit later, and he’s not really getting to [his] foot plant as early as we’d like him to. And he’s just been a little bit late on fastballs and probably chasing things he doesn’t normally chase. It’s purely just timing.”
|
Q: Does it look to you like Ian Happ has come out of that slump that he went through last month?
DK: “With Ian, we’ve seen him get red hot at times. We’re hoping he’s starting to get into one of those things right now. A lot of it was being on time for fastballs and being able to adjust. Kind of his superpower as a hitter, especially left-handed, is he adjusts so well to offspeed and changeups and keeps a little bend in the front knee. And he just wasn’t on time for either of those pitches. He was kind of in between them. And we’ve seen the last 10 days or so, he’s back on time for fastballs and recognizing offspeed and really staying through.”
|
Q: Kyle Tucker has been hitting the ball hard consistently and it seems like he has continued to make the right swing decisions, but the results haven’t been as strong as they were early in the year. What have you seen?
DK: “His swing decisions have always been really good. He sees the ball out of hand so early. He’s so locked in on where he’s looking to do damage and he has a really good idea of what pitchers are trying to do to him. So, the swing decision part hasn’t been a concern at all. There was a little bit of a timing thing, and we noticed his bat was a little bit flatter than normal, so that’s something we’ve talked about for a couple weeks.”
|
Q: What has stood out about Matt Shaw’s strong offensive showing since the All-Star break?
DK: “We’ve talked about Matt so much this year about what the mechanics are and this and that. I think what I’ve seen from him the most is just the intent to hit the ball really hard, and I think a lot of that has just come with confidence and comfort. It wasn’t that he wasn’t trying to do that. He just wasn’t really in a great position to do it. But I think what you've seen since the All-Star break is a really good version of him. It doesn’t always happen right away.”
|
MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
|
|
Michael Busch now has six home runs this season against the Cardinals, representing the most for a Cubs hitter against their I-55 rivals since 2005 (Derrek Lee also had six). What is the record for most single-season homers by a Cubs hitter against the Cardinals?
A. Ten B. Nine C. Eight D. Seven |
|
|
“I think we’ve got the best lineup in baseball. Through 162 games, stretches of all sorts of kinds are going to come about. We know who we are as a ballclub. We know what we can do, what we’re capable of. We’re one of the best teams in the National League. Sometimes, stuff happens. The best part about baseball -- like Ryne Sandberg would say -- is you get to show up tomorrow. That’s what we’re going to do.” -- Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, on the recent ups and downs for the offense |
|
|
• PCA is pushing Statcast to its limits with play in CF. Read more >> • Shaw continued his second-half surge on Sunday. Read more >> • Nine under-the-radar performers for contenders. Read more >> • Cubs offense enjoys rebound in win over Cardinals. Read more >> • Why Cubs aren’t worrying about recent RISP issues. Read more >> |
|
|
UPCOMING WRIGLEY FIELD PROMOS |
|
|
B. Nine
Ernie Banks (1955) and Hack Wilson (1929) are tied for the most homers in Cubs history in one season against the rival Cardinals. The closest any Chicago hitter has come since 2000 is seven (Sammy Sosa in 2001 and Moises Alou in 2003). Banks and Wilson are one shy of the MLB record of 10 homers against the Cardinals -- done by Cy Williams of the Phillies in 1923. |
|
|
FORWARDED FROM A FRIEND? SUBSCRIBE NOW |
To subscribe to Cubs Beat, visit this page and mark "Cubs Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Cubs or that they're checked as your favorite team. |
|
|
|
