Chicago Cubs: The Cubs would be wise to bring back Justin Wilson

Chicago Cubs: The ideal guy to take down lefties

Where Wilson really shined for the Cubs this season was in his matchups against left-handed batters. He was the Cubs’ best option, hands down, and, thus became their go-to guy. Against lefty hitters, he amassed 22 1/3 innings, facing 93 batters.

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Against these hitters, Wilson allowed a 1.61 ERA, surrendering a .188 opponent batting average. At times he dominated against lefties, striking out 32 batters on his way to a team-high 12.9 K/9 ratio. While he was dominant, there were times he lost his control, allowing 13 free passes to go along with a team-leading 5.2 walks per nine.

The Cubs didn’t have a whole lot of options throughout the season when it came to lefty versus lefty, which is why Wilson was called on so often. Brian Duensing was injured and wasn’t nearly the same pitcher he was in 2017.

Randy Rosario became a pleasant surprise throughout the season but didn’t dominate left-handers by any means. He faced 79 lefties, walked 10 batters and struck out 18, which accounted for a 1.8 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Both Jorge De La Rosa and Jaime Garcia became great tools for the Cubs down the stretch against left-handed batters. Neither of them allowed a run or a walk in lefty-lefty matchups in their 9 2/3 combined innings pitched. De La Rosa was much more dominant of the two, striking out six batters while Garcia failed to tally a single punch out.