Chicago Cubs: Middle infielder dynamic duos throughout the years

Chicago Cubs: Sandberg and company

No list of middle infield pairs would be complete without Ryne Sandberg.  What else needs to be said?  At second base, he earned nine Gold Gloves.  He was a nine-time Silver Slugger award winner, an MVP, and was an All-Star ten times. How many MLB players have a game named after them like the June 23, 1984, Sandberg Game?  Topping that off was his selection to the MLB Hall of Fame in 2005.

Opposite Sandberg throughout most of his career was shortstop Shawon Dunston, though Larry Bowa played shortstop from 1982 through 1985.  Bowa, on the downside of a great career, and Dunston, the error machine at short, never achieved the defensive balance on the other side of second base.  All that aside, Ryno’s extraordinary play makes Sandberg and Company one of the best.

Chicago Cubs: Honorable mentions

Two other players to come to mind.  I haven’t mentioned them, but they deserve recognition.  Darwin Barney was a 4th round pick of the Cubs in 2007 and debuted in 2010.  In 2011 he batted a decent .271, but that was as good it got at the plate.  In 2012 Barney beat out perennial Gold Glove winner Brandon Phillips of the Reds for the award.

Starlin Castro, who my Cubbies Crib colleague Nick Blazek wrote about recently, held down shortstop from 2010 when he came up at age 20 until 2015.  Despite a reputation as the most significant error machine since Dunston, unlike Dunston, Castro’s defense steadily improved over the years.  Moved to second base in late 2015, Castro slashed .376/.404/.656 with a 1.060 OPS after the switch.

El Mago was always the heir apparent at shortstop, and once Castro moved to second in 2015, it seemed that duo would lead the Cubs.  Nonetheless, the Cubs opted to keep Russell, trade Castro to the Yankees, and four seasons later, as with Sandberg, they are again looking for that middle infield compliment to Baez.