Cubs are seeing early success undone by these three things

Cubs have been taking a lot of pitches this year

Working counts and pushing up opposing starter’s pitch counts is always good. That is, unless you’re missing out on very hittable pitches in the zone. Bleacher Nation pointed out some pretty poignant trends as far as the offense goes on Monday:

I get not wanting to be overaggressive. That makes sense. But when pitchers make mistakes, you’ve got to be ready to make them pay. Although the Cubs slugged well early in the season, that number has cratered (as of Monday night, the team ranked in the bottom third of MLB in slugging percentage).

Per Baseball Savant, the Cubs have just four hitters with a whiff rate that’s better than league average: Jason Heyward, Victor Caratini, Anthony Rizzo and Nico Hoerner. Guys are swinging at too many bad pitches and letting too many good ones go sailing past them. If that doesn’t get addressed – and soon – the team will be lucky to even sneak into the postseason, let alone win a division.

Cubs need Baez and Bryant to turn it around offensively

Two of the Cubs’ former MVP finalists (including one winner), Kris Bryant and Javier Baez have, to put it mildly, struggled a great deal this season at the plate. The former has battled injuries and a stomach bug, but has looked just overmatched on very hittable pitches – and the numbers bear the evidence.

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Bryant is seeing more pitches per plate appearance than at any point in his big league career. But he’s not doing anything with them. The 2015 NL Rookie of the Year has barreled just 5.3 percent of pitches heading into Monday night’s contest with St. Louis (compared to a 10.3 percent mark for his career) and is striking out more often than he has since his rookie campaign five years ago.

Meanwhile, Baez is starting to look more and more like the guy who used to be hellbent on pulling the ball instead of the one we saw take shape in recent years, displaying easy power to all fields. He ranks in the bottom five percent of the league in whiff rate and bottom 15 in strikeout percentage this season.

Manager David Ross gave his shortstop the day off on Sunday ahead of the Cubs’ five games in three days against St. Louis. Baez went 1-for-3 with a strikeout and a throwing error in the front end of Monday’s doubleheader following the day off.

“I’ve pushed him really hard,” Ross said. “Getting him off his feet, getting him kind of a mental reset and getting ready for the games we’ve got to come, I just felt it was good for him and our team.”

If these guys don’t get it going (Baez is hitting .208 and Bryant .190) – the Cubs aren’t going anywhere. This is a major concern for the team and is undoubtedly laying heavy on Ross’ mind as he fills out the lineup card.

Cubs (and every other team) can be leveled by the injury bug

Chicago has been without left-hander Jose Quintana the entire season to this point. The veteran left-hander is continuing to work his way back from surgery to repair a damaged nerve in the thumb of his pitching hand. Ross made it clear that Quintana won’t be back this week, but it’s feasible we could see him by the end of the month.

Now, the Cubs are down another starter with Tyler Chatwood hitting the 10-day IL with back issues. That led to the team calling up right-hander Tyson Miller to start Monday night’s game against St. Louis – hardly an ideal situation, but it is what it is,

Given the glaring lack of quality pitching options on-hand, these are obviously the injuries that have worried fans the most. But we’ve seen Bryant battle multiple ailments, Heyward experienced a minor back issue over the weekend and Kyle Schwarber work through knee soreness as well.

On their own, bumps and bruises are to be expected – even in a 60-game season. But when they start piling up, a team like the Cubs could be derailed in a hurry. Staying safe and healthy is critical (especially in a COVID-19 world) – and keeping your best guys on the field will be a key down the stretch.