Don’t Count Him Out

The Cub’s options at first base this season are fairly easy to count. Carlos Pena is the man. And behind him? Well… that gets tricky. Tyler Colvin played first base in college and has taken some balls there more recently, but is probably better off staying in right. Jeff Baker and Max Ramirez are also being talked about for the backup job.

Meanwhile, the lack of first base options in the minors has been well documented here on CubbiesCrib. Vitters… maybe, if he doesn’t stay at third. Maybe Flaherty could move over. And then there’ s a kid way down in Daytona who isn’t looking too bad. Wellington Castillo might get a look at first. But beyond that, I’ve written off every Cub’s first baseman who played any higher than Boise as being a long shot to ever make the majors, and certainly not this year.

But there is one one name that keeps cropping up when I look over the Cub’s system, one name that I can’t quite get behind and yet can’t ignore, one name that could prove to be the surprise of the spring and put an end to the back up first baseman debates for the rest of the season. Let’s meet Bryan LaHair, quite possibly the best first baseman in the Cubs’ system not named Pena.

Let me get the bad news out of the way right off the bat. LaHair will be 28 this year and has only surfaced in the majors once, with Seattle. In 150 plate appearances he hit .250 with three home runs and never saw the major leagues again. I’ve mentioned LaHair twice on CubbiesCrib, writing him off a prototypical AAAA guy in one spot and giving him virtually no shot of ever making the majors with the Cubs in another. And yet, I can’t get around his numbers.

At 6’5”, LaHair is a big, left handed first baseman with power. 25 home runs and a .557 slugging percentage in Iowa last season are nothing to sneeze at. More importantly, in 422 at bats he struck out only 22% of the time. That isn’t bad for a .500+ slugging guy. His 51 walks weren’t too bad either. In the Winter Leagues his batting average has stayed near .300, which is very good news, but his slugging percentage plummeted to .353. Then again, he only had 34 at bats across 10 games.

But remember, this is a left handed power guy who can back up Pena at first and maybe play a little outfield as well. The key part being that he is a left handed power bat who would come off the bench… a place where the Cubs are notably lacking in left handed power (assuming Colvin takes a starting job). Bryan LaHair is about to walk into his perfect scenario. He is what the Cubs need. All he has to do is win the job.

The odds of him doing so? He has a shot. The likely suspects for the Cubs bench include: Fukudome, Perez, Johnson, Baker, Barney, M. Ramirez, Smith, and Hill. If you figure the Cubs start the season with 12 pitchers (which is typically the case), that leaves five bench slots. Two of those are taken by Hill and Fukudome, and presumably Perez and Johnson are fighting for a third. That leaves two empty positions for Baker and Barney. Right?

Maybe. DeWitt (who I’m assuming starts at second in this scenario) can also play third. Barney can play short or second. So, if Baker has a weak spring and both Barney and De Witt play well, the door is open for LaHair to sneak into that last bench slot with a monster performance in Arizona. His biggest competition for the bench bat / back up first baseman would likely be Max Ramirez, and judging purely on their recent numbers, LaHair wins in a landslide.

The lot of things have to line up right for LaHair to get a shot at a bench roll this spring, but don’t count him out. He’s left handed, which is a plus, and he can hit, which is another plus. Put those two pluses together and the door is open for him. Let’s not count him out quite yet. Bryan LaHair has a chance to surprise us all.