Chicago Cubs: How have trade deadline acquisitions panned out so far?

For the Chicago Cubs, Codi Heuer’s continued development is absolutely crucial

When the Cubs made the Kimbrel trade, many assumed Madrigal was all they were after, but Codi Heuer is absolutely no throw-in. Heuer had a very successful 2020 and on the surface, he looks as though he’s taken a step back. A deeper dive into his season reveals that there’s much more to Heuer’s ‘struggles’ and the Cubs may just have the fix.

Heuer certainly has the stuff to be a rock-solid late-inning reliever, but something has just seemed to go wrong this season, as Heuer’s H/9 jumped to a staggering 10.5. The Cubs were able to diagnose that his big issue was the grip he had on his fastball. The way Heuer would throw it would lead it to either dip on occasion like a sinker, or not dip at all, leading to way too many pitches staying up in the zone. Now they’ve changed his grip and are working with him on developing his fastball and a new sinker.

The results right now are a bit strange. He’s gotten a lot more groundballs, but his strikeout numbers have dropped, and he still struggles a bit with getting hit. Bear in mind that Heuer is trying to fix all of his pitches mid-season and he’s gonna be experimenting the rest of the year. The results may not show right away, but the process is well thought out.