Cubs are seeing early success undone by these three things

David Bote / Chicago Cubs (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)

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:

Here's a wild addition to this idea: at 39.6%, Cubs are seeing pitches in the zone at the lowest rate in baseball.

So opposing pitchers are staying away at highest rate in baseball, but when they do come into zone, Cubs are giving up strikes at a disporportionately high rate.
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) August 17, 2020

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 have been taking a lot of pitches this year

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