Chicago Cubs: Addison Russell is key to the Cubs' offense

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Addison Russell will play a vital role in the Chicago Cubs’ offense in 2018 despite having a rough 2017 season

Perhaps the first thing that jumps off the page about Chicago Cubs’ shortstop Addison Russell is his age. The smooth-fielding middle infielder will turn 24 years old in January. Despite his youthfulness, Russell completed his third full season in the majors in 2017.

After appearing in 142 games during his rookie campaign of 2015, Russell upped that to 151 games in 2016, solidifying his name on Joe Maddon‘s lineup card. In 2017, however, the injury bug caught up with Russell and caused him to miss 40 games with plantar fasciitis.

Even before injuring his foot, Russell did not look like himself for much of the year. Following the 2016 season in which Russell clubbed 21 home runs and drove in 95 runs, he managed just 12 home runs and 43 RBI in 2017.

Despite a rough month of May which saw Russell slash .162/.295/.284 and hit just one home run, the 23-year-old did not have a terrible season. As stated above, Russell’s home runs and RBI were way down from 2016, but those statistics do not tell the whole story. Russell managed to better his batting average and slugging percentage from 2016 to 2017. Even so, Russell’s OBP dropped from .321 during the 2016 campaign to .304 in 2017.

Russell struggled in critical situations in 2017

Perhaps, some of Russell’s struggles in 2017 can be traced back to distractions both on and off the field. Now with some of those distractions hopefully behind Russell, he can get back to being a key cog in the Cubs’ offense.

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During the 2017 season, Russell accumulated 352 at-bats. Of those, 125 came while Russell was batting in the five spot in the line-up. The next highest number of at-bats came from the clean-up spot in the order. That means more than half of Russell’s at-bats during the 2017 season came from either the four or five spot in the order.

This is important because it is those positions in the line-up that are important to the run scoring output of a team.

Consider this, Russell logged 162 at-bats with runners on base last season. That is almost as many (190) as he had with no one on-base. Despite having such a large exposure to batting with runners on, Russell did not do much with the opportunity. With men on, Russell slashed just .216/.314/.346. In addition to that, Russell hit just two home runs with runners on and struck out 45 times.

Along with his struggles with men on-base, Russell also had a hard time advancing runners or getting them home with two outs. With men in scoring position and two outs, Russell slashed just .200/.310/.380 with one home run and 19 strikeouts in 50 at-bats.

There is hope to be had

Of course, there is always a sliver-lining to everything and this is no different. Russell’s sliver-lining comes in the form of his 2016 season. Granted, Russell logged many more at-bats during 2016 than he did in 2017 (213 more), but his 2016 numbers jump off the page.

In 2016, Russell was placed lower in the line-up, logging 183 at-bats in the five hole and 181 in the seven hole. Batting fifth, Russell hit just .240 and recorded a .295 OBP. However, he clubbed 11 home runs and had a slugging percentage of .470.

With men on-base in 2016, Russell came to bat 275 times. In that time, he slashed .265/.342/.458 with 12 home runs. While Russell hit just .218 with runners in scoring position and two outs, he slashed .251/.325/.461 with men in scoring position and less than two outs. To go along with that, Russell hit at a .391 clip with the bases loaded.

Russell comes up in key situations

Now that Kyle Schwarber is seemly back to full-strength, Russell may find himself batting a little lower in the line-up in 2018. However, that does not mean the 23-year-old will not get his shot to drive in runs.

Over the last two seasons, Russell has floated around the middle of the Cubs’ order. Despite having an average south of .240 over the last two seasons, Russell continues to step to the plate with men on and a chance to bring them home. It’s for that reason that Russell is a big part of this offense and why the Cubs need the youngster to step-up in 2018.

Russell needs to turn a corner in 2018

With more than 400 major league games under his belt, Russell is just a .240 hitter. While a .238 average was good enough to earn an All-Star selection in 2016, mediocre batting averages may lessen Russell’s value over time, especially if his OBP drops much further.

Despite a down 2017 season, Baseball-Reference.com is projecting a better season for Russell in 2018. The projection has Russell slashing .249/.325/.427 with 15 home runs and 60 RBI in 405 at-bats. If that happened, Russell would set career highs in batting average, OBP and slugging percentage.

Next: Chicago Cubs could have their hands full in the 2018 NL Central

Expecting a .250 average, a respectable OBP and a fair number of RBI from Russell in 2018 is not asking too much. Especially if Joe Maddon continues to bat Russell in the middle of the Cubs’ order.

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Chicago Cubs: Addison Russell is key to the Cubs’ offense