Chicago Cubs: Catching trio has been otherworldly so far in 2019

What was seen as a question mark during the offseason has turned into not just a pleasant surprise, but a big positive for the Chicago Cubs so far this year.

Willson Contreras. Victor Caratini. Taylor Davis. The three-headed monster donning the tools of ignorance has found a new home at the intersection of Clark and Addison. Granted, it’s only May 5, and you have to take every auspicious start with a grain of salt, but the Chicago Cubs catching corps has exceeded fans’ expectations so far this season.

If these guys keep this up, the Cubs are going to be giving them their own commercial and portmanteau nicknames like Convistini or WillVicTay. Okay, so maybe no one in the Cubs’ PR department is scurrying around to get these guys a catchy “Bryzzo” name, but couldn’t you see a commercial where Davis is staring into the camera while a menacing-looking (or jovial and cigar-smoking, depending on how you wanted to play it) Contreras flanks Caratini, who’s sitting in a sumptuous leather chair behind a rich, mahogany desk? They could be the most interesting catchers in the world, or at the very least, the most interesting ones in Chicago.

Desks and staring aside, these three guys (mostly Contreras) have put up some pretty crazy numbers so far on the season. As a group, the catchers are slashing a gaudy .321/.436/.679 with 10 home runs and 28 RBI through May 4. They’ve also combined to put up 1.6 of cumulative WAR via Fangraphs, and 1.8 WAR vis Baseball Reference.

We all know that kind of production won’t stand up over the long, grueling summer ahead, but let’s give some credit to this group so far this season, and take a look at what has made them so good.