“We need to break that cycle,” says Jed Hoyer in reference to the Chicago Cubs offense’s continued struggles.
“Hopefully we’ll settle in the middle somewhere between that, but I didn’t think we were going to hit with guys in scoring position at the rate we were in April,” Hoyer said on Tuesday.” However, you can never be sure when a hot streak will end and a cool stream will start, and vice versa. We’re hoping to start making changes soon.
Only the Cincinnati Reds (3.12) and the White Sox (2.96) have scored fewer runs per game in the majors than the Cubs as of Tuesday. Their average for May is 3.29. Every player in the lineup has struggled to score, making it more difficult to grind out a slump.
Aside from Ian Happ beginning to hammer the ball in the past week, the Cubs have struggled to get hits, much less extra-base hits. As of Tuesday, the Cubs were 26th in the major leagues in terms of BABIP (base average on balls in play) and had the poorest mark (.211) in the majors this month.
Hoyer says that’s a combination of unlucky breaks and gentle touch. The offense was excellent last year, and many of the guys have a history of playing at this level, so that’s why Hoyer said, “In the end, I look at this group’s track record.” Looking at the underlying numbers might sometimes make you feel kind of insane.
And, whoa, we’ve encountered a ton of excellent pitching. The challenges we have faced this month have been excellent. But in the end, in order to get where we want to go, you have to defeat those kinds of pitchers. Furthermore, I believe that we must trust past performance and hope that things will improve soon.
If the Cubs’ protracted downturn continues, they will eventually need to look at other options. Since the Cubs optioned him on May 21, center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has dominated at Triple-A Iowa. Should they want to make a move this weekend, he may be brought up.
Hoyer conceded that there might come a moment when discussing Crow-Armstrong or another player would be more important than other players’ major league at-bats. The front office has to keep such things in mind all the time.
One of the most difficult things about working in any of these professions, according to Hoyer, is having to exercise patience with individuals who have a track record. You also know that there will be difficult times over the year, so you have to be understanding at those times.
However, you can overuse that patience. You have to feel a sense of urgency there at some point, and it’s really challenging to determine when that is.”We’ll work to determine whether and how best to ignite this offense.”
The Cubs need their top players to succeed, which is as important as having depth on the bench and in platoon situations. The Cubs are in serious trouble if Happ, Cody Bellinger, Seiya Suzuki, and Dansby Swanson—in particular—don’t start to contribute at the plate, regardless of how manager Craig Counsell and pitching coach Brian Hoyer use the auxiliary players on the team.
As long as this cold streak lasts, the pitching staff and defense will be under tremendous strain.” In the end, nobody has been hot—that’s a very unusual thing,” Hoyer remarked. Because we haven’t been applying much pressure to the opposition, we have seen the best bullpen and good starters who have pitched for extended stretches of time during the games. And that’s the part where it gets even more difficult to score runs. “We need to stop this cycle and start scoring runs because some of these things are in a vicious loop.”