Chicago Cubs: Christian Yelich lights up Yu Darvish on Twitter

Amidst the controversy surrounding the Houston Astros cans, another controversy has sprung up between the Chicago Cubs and a rival.

Christian Yelich is a really good hitter. That much is undeniable. Chicago Cubs hurler Yu Darvish can also be a really good pitcher. That is also undeniable by even the biggest of cynics and pessimists.

You might ask why any of this matters, but unless you’ve been living under a rock or staying off Twitter like the plague, you probably already know the answer. While the Astros are on the hot-seat due to their possible use of video camera to steal signs, it stands to reason that some other teams could possibly be doing the same thing.

In fact, it seems more likely than not that there may be some other teams and players who just might be coming under some scrutiny in the weeks and months ahead for sign-stealing shenanigans.

One such player and team is Yelich and the Milwaukee Brewers. However, according to Yelich’s disparaging tweet aimed at Darvish yesterday, there’s no need to even try and figure out what Darvish is throwing ahead of time because he’s just not that good and no one would even need any extra help hitting the big right-hander.

Darvish did try to defend his original tweet by saying he wasn’t actually claiming any wrongdoing, just explaining what had happened in the video when he stepped off the rubber. Yelich, on the other hand, decided to be curt and disrespectful with his response.

Chicago Cubs: Is it possible Yelich has been stealing signs?

With the explosive advancement in technology over the past 20 years has come some impressive technical prowess and abilities. However, despite that spike in technological ability, more primordial methods have also come under fire: garbage can banging, chirping, whistling, and bullpen positioning. Apparently, Yelich felt the need to look out to his bullpen during an at bat against Darvish and Bleacher Nation happened to find it– and Darvish took to twitter to merely explain what happened.

Yelich has always been a fine all-around player, but his move from sunny Florida to the domed home of Bernie the Brewer in Milwaukee sparked an exponential growth curve that culminated in an MVP trophy in 2018 and a runner-up finish this past season.

In his four-and-a-half seasons in Miami, Yelich produced a .290/.369/.432 slash line that looked promising for a player entering his prime. What he’s done in Milwaukee, however, is nothing short of Ruthian. His slash line has jumped across the board over the last two seasons in Wisconsin, as his .327/.415/.631 clearly illustrates.

Granted, a person could make the case that Yelich was just entering his prime and that a trade to a team that is actually, ya know – good at baseball – might have been just what the doctor ordered to improve tremendously. That said, the improvement isn’t incremental at all; it’s incredible.

Chicago Cubs: Will the Twitter feud with Darvish end in Yelich being all smiles?

In addition to the increase in production engendered by the move to Milwaukee, Yelich also produced some curiously disparate home and away splits this past season. It was the talk of baseball early in the season and over the course of the year, the talk subsided. What didn’t subside a whole lot though, is the difference in his numbers.

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In 65 games on the road in 2019, Yelich put up an excellent slash line of .312/.409/.597 with 17 home runs and 38 RBI. That would seem to suggest that regardless of anything else, Yelich has absolutely taken it to a new level since joining the Brewers and entering his prime.

The problem is, if sign-stealing is a reality for Yelich and the Brewers, home is where it would be easier to set a system up. The slash line in 65 games at Miller Park for Yelich was a mind-boggling .347/.451/.740 to go along with 27 home runs and 59 RBI. For what it’s worth, he also struck out less and walked more at home.

Again, this could just be explained away (to a point) by the fact that most players tend to like playing at home and get used to the sight-lines at home vs. a bunch of road ballparks they don’t visit nearly as often. Except… except. Those numbers are crazy.

While it’s hard to come to a definitive answer about whether or not Yelich did anything wrong in the video or in general at this point, if you freeze the video between the 11 and 13 second marks, it’s very clear Yelich’s eyes turn towards something in left-center field. It may just be a freak thing or coincidence, but Darvish stepped off immediately following the look and some fans even remembered that it looked a bit odd.