Chicago Cubs: Albert Almora says he’s overhauled his approach

After the worst season of his career, Chicago Cubs outfielder Albert Almora is hoping a revamped approach will help him get back on track in 2020.

You can chalk me up as one of the people who’s ready to move on from Albert Almora as the everyday answer in center field moving forward. For the better part of two years, he’s been one of the least valuable offensive players in baseball. But the Chicago Cubs are still hanging on, hoping for him to tap into the potential that made him a first-round pick back in 2012.

I’ll give him credit though – he’s not shying away from his shortcomings. Almora knows he hasn’t played up to the standards he or the organization have set. He spent the offseason re-tooling his swing and his mental approach to the game in hopes of becoming an answer in the outfielder moving forward.

The biggest difference last season was his defense, which took a sharp turn in the wrong direction. Long considered a Gold Glove-caliber center fielder, he was taking poor routes to balls, dropping others and looking lost unlike at any point we’ve seen in his Cubs career.

If he can actually overhaul his game, hopefully learning to work counts and accepting that getting on base – regardless of whether it’s a hit or a walk – counts all the same, he could be a legitimate answer to multiple problems facing the ball club heading into the 2020 campaign.

Chicago Cubs: This has to be a make-or-break season for Almora

Look, I understand that one bad year does not a player make. But, really since the midway point of the 2018 campaign, Almora has been a lost cause at the plate. Over that same stretch, we’ve heard the front office preach about production over promise (although they’ve done literally nothing to back that line up).

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That has to change in 2020.

In the outfield, he’s always brought value. That is, until last season, when he turned in a -2.5 UZR – a dramatic downturn from the 1.9 UZR he posted in 2018. That, paired with his woeful results at the plate made him a below-average contributor for the first time in his career.

It makes sense Chicago is giving him another chance – after all, it’s not like they’re going to spend money to find an answer. But this is it. Almora has to take advantage of this opportunity and show he’s got what it takes to be the team’s answer moving forward.

“I feel a lot more upbeat. I feel like this is all I know, and I feel like every year we’re super excited to get going and super happy to be here,” he added. “This year there’s a little bit more of that. There’s a little bit more. For myself, at least, I feel a little bit more organized. I feel like I know what I have to do for myself to get ready.”

If there’s one guy I’m keeping an eye on this spring, it’s Albert Almora. He (and the Cubs) have a lot riding on his performance this year and neither side can afford a repeat of last season’s doomed efforts.