Chicago Cubs have a lot of hitters who hope to be ‘different’ this year

Don’t chase the slider away

The first thing most of us think of when we think of Javier Baez the hitter is probably that violent swing. Because of that violent swing, he is a very streaky hitter. In 2016 he was the co-MVP of the NLCS. In 2017 he went through most of the postseason without a hit. Baez will always be a streaky hitter.

But there are definitely some areas where Baez can improve. The biggest is learning not to chase breaking balls out of the strike zone. So if Baez can prevent the lows from being so low, he can become a more consistent, streaky hitter and that would be something different for him.

Montero out, Contreras in

Last season when Miguel Montero talked his way off the Cubs and Willson Contreras was injured the Cubs front office acquired two veteran catchers, Alex Avila and René Rivera. They did that despite already having two good catchers at triple-A. Eventually, both Taylor Davis and Victor Caratini got called up to the big league club in 2017.

This offseason the front office once again acquired a veteran catcher, Chris Gimenez. Most figured Gimenez would begin the season as the backup catcher. But Victor Caratini claimed the backup catcher job during this spring training. He might not stick in the majors the whole year. Or he might have trouble adjusting to not being an everyday player.

He still needs to work on his receiving skills behind the plate. But if Caratini proves that he is a full season major leaguer and a good bench player that will be something different.