Chicago Cubs: Willson Contreras has been on fire since returning

Chicago Cubs All-Star catcher, Willson Contreras has been on a tear since returning from the Injured list. In his two games since coming back, Contreras picked up right where he left off. 

All Chicago Cubs fans held their breath when they saw their All-Star catcher Willson Contreras, hobble out of the box back on August 2nd in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers. Everyone wanted to know how long he would be out of the Cubs lineup for. When the news broke that it would be around a month, most Cubs fans were relieved that he would be back at some point.

In Contreras’s absence, Victor Caratini got most of the starts behind the plate and was good. Batting .288 with four home runs and eight runs batted in. Those are some outstanding numbers out of a backup catcher.  The Cubs also had to go out and pick up veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy to add catching depth because of the Injury.

Before the injury, Contreras was having a very nice bounce-back season. After struggling massively the second half of last season, Contreras seemed to turn it around this season. Before he was sent to the IL, he was batting .275/.365/.525 with 19 homers and 57 RBI in 87 games this season.

Contreras started a rehab assignment in Iowa on August 30th, and that was big news to Cubs fans everywhere. He went 1-7 with a double and a walk in his two rehab games.

The Cubs activated Contreras on Tuesday, and he was in the lineup. He let his presence known very early smacking a long homer into the left-field bleachers. That had to feel good for Contreras who was visibly upset the day he was injured. Contreras homered Thursday night again in Milwaukee which is an excellent sign for Cubs fans that he still has power after injuring his hamstring.

In the two games that he has played since returning from the IL Contreras is 6-8 with two home runs and two doubles. That’s about as good as you can ask for coming off the IL. The other good news is that he says his hamstring is completely fine and ready to go. In the game on Thursday, he hit a double to dead center field and had to hustle around the bases and showed no signs of the hamstring bothering him.

Now it is excellent to get Contreras back on the field because of his ability’s but even more for his energy. He is the guy that brings the energy every day he plays, and that is a boost for a team. I know personally, I was excited to see him play with Nicholas Castellanos, another guy that brings the energy to a team. Hopefully, Contreras can continue to swing a hot bat and help the Chicago Cubs to a division title.