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Cubs: Three questions the team must answer when play resumes
By Jim Guzior
Chicago Cubs: What are the Cubs’ options for a leadoff hitter?
Remember the big announcement Ross made that Cubs third baseman, Kris Bryant would be the Cubs leadoff hitter going into the season? Do you think that will still stand if the season were to kick off next week?
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I think Ross has had some time to reconsider his daily double plan of Bryant and first basemen Anthony Rizzo sitting in the number one and two position of the batting order and will make some changes when play resumes. Who should Ross be looking at?
If you’re going with the hot hand before the hiatus, outfielder Albert Almora Jr., was just crushing the ball in spring training. Fans will recall that Almora had eight hits, six runs, six RBIs, one double and two home runs with a .276 BA, .325 OBP, .517 SLG and a .840 OPS. Yes, Almora was on fire during spring training this year but there were some other notables worth considering for the leadoff hitter position out of Mesa this year.
Outfielder Ian Happ was almost tested for ‘Alien-DNA’ with his .481 BA out of spring training and a 1.315 OPS. Happ was a monster hitter with 13 hits in 10 games over spring training to include two homers, three doubles, 11 RBIs and scoring five runs. Talk about one fired up player; even the Happ avatar player on MLB’s game “The Show” would have been impressed by the ‘real’ Happ performance during spring training.
One thing is for sure, Ross has lots of options for a leadoff hitter. One thing he doesn’t have a lot of options for is a dedicated second baseman.