Cubs News: Handing out midseason grades for the 2020 season

Chicago Cubs: Starting pitchers

Tyler Chatwood: C-. Two great outings to start the season have been followed by two bad ones sandwiched around an IL stint. On August 6, he got pounded in Kansas City, while on August 25 against Detroit control was an issue as he walked five batters and only recorded four outs. Which Chatwood will we see moving forward? In any case, the team needs him to turn it around.

Alec Mills: B. Mills got off to a great start but has come back down to earth a little bit lately. Overall his five starts have been serviceable, which is what you want from a number five starter. The fact that he’s gone at least six innings in four of his five starts has meant a lot to the team. The Cubs could use more quality innings from Mills moving forward, especially if Jose Quintana does indeed stay in the bullpen.

Jon Lester: B-. We’d like to see the Cubs get a little more length from Lester, as he hasn’t gone more than six innings in any of his starts. Yet four of his six outings have been great, with a couple of bad ones mixed in. At this point in his career, we knew coming into the season that his days of being an ace were over, so I suppose what we’ve seen from Lester so far is probably what we’re going to get moving forward.

Yu Darvish: A. Take away that first so-so outing against Milwaukee to start the season and Darvish has been phenomenal, one of the game’s most valuable starting pitchers to this point. He’s allowed one or zero runs in each of his last five outings while going at least six innings each time, and he’s continued to keep the walks down — just six in 37 innings of work. He appears to be emerging as this team’s ace.

Kyle Hendricks: B+. Hendricks appears to have settled in as a mid-3.00’s ERA pitcher, which is exactly where he is again this year. He really has only had one rough outing this year, July 29 in Cincinnati. His last two outings haven’t been phenomenal, allowing three runs each time, but he’s at least been keeping his team in the game, which is what you want out of a starting pitcher. He’s also only walked four batters in 38 innings.