Chicago Cubs: End-of-season grades for key players from the 2021 team

Chicago Cubs: Infield offered decent production for much of the year

The Departed Infielders: 

Anthony Rizzo: B/B-

The former face of the franchise had a productive season with the Cubs, hitting .248/.346/.446 with 14 home runs, a 112 wRC+ and an 0.9 fWAR. While not where he was in his prime, and not All-Star worthy, he was still, overall, a solid presence. These might just be the types of numbers he puts up through the rest of his career – solid but not great. Time will tell. Kevin Alcantara, who came over in the trade with the Yankees, is an intriguing talent to keep an eye on.

Javier Baez: C+ 

It’s hard to complain about 22 home runs and 65 RBI in 91 games, but what brings his grade down to the “C level” was the sub-.300 on-base percentage and 131 strikeouts in 361 plate appearances. He also committed 18 errors at short. Baez was never a high-OBP or low-strikeout guy, but it had gradually gotten worse in 2021 compared to where he was in 2017-2019. At least the power and driving in runs remained. We will see if he returns in 2022.

The rest:

Willson Conteras: B-

One could look at the .237 average and want Contreras to be marked lower, but look at what else he brought. He hit 21 home runs in 128 games, put up a .340 OBP, .778 OPS and 109 wRC+. His .298 BABIP was a career-low. We know he is capable of more, but he still produced fairly well considering time missed and some notable slumps.

David Bote: F

Due to a combination of very poor numbers and some fluky injuries, this was a year to forget for Bote. He hit .199/.276/.330 in 97 games. His BABIP was just .235 and he grounded into 13 double plays. Overall he put up a career-worst -0.5 fWAR. He did provide eight homers, but that is about it. While not necessarily an excuse, he did hit into some real tough luck this season. He will want to start fresh in 2022 and put 2021 behind him.

Patrick Wisdom: B

Where the heck did this guy come from? In his first season in the majors playing 100+ games, he broke the Cubs rookie record for homers, going deep 28 times! He also put up an impressive 115 wRC+ on the year. For who this guy was coming into 2021, this could be A-worthy. The reason it is bumped down to B was his 40.8 percent strikeout rate and his signs of coming down to Earth a bit in the final months. Still a heck of a job by the 30-year-old rookie.

Matt Duffy: B+

A very nice find by Jed Hoyer. The former San Francisco Giant and Tampa Bay Ray utilityman started off really slow and then found a groove. In a utility role, Duffy hit .287/.357/.381 with five home runs in 97 games. He did a good job making contact and came up with some big hits. Outside of being a bit streaky, he put together a very nice season.

Frank Schwindel: A

Nobody knew the legend of “Frank the Tank” until after the deadline. After spending years in the minors and little time in the majors, Schwindel came to town and put on a show the final few months of the season. He blasted 13 home runs in 56 games and slashed .342/.389/.613 with a 1.002 OPS and 163 wRC+. Of the players remaining on the team, he had the highest fWAR. He could be the official “bridge” first baseman in 2022.

Nico Hoerner: Incomplete

Numbers wise, Hoerner showed tremendous potential. He hit .302/.382/.369, showing the ability to put the ball in play from foul pole to foul pole. If he had played a full season and put up these numbers, he would get an easy A grade. Problem is he spent much of 2021 injured and only appeared in 44 games. It’s hard to do a full evaluation on a guy who is supposed to be an everyday, long-term building block when he does not even play half the season. At least we can say what we saw in a small sample was very impressive. Hopefully he is healthy in 2022.

Sergio Alcantara: D

He was claimed off waivers from the Tigers to be organizational depth and fill-in after the deadline, not much more. He hit five home runs and six doubles in 89 games.

Eric Sogard: F

The veteran utilityman put together a very impressive spring training, but it did not carry over into the regular season. A mediocre .249 average along with a dreadful .283 OBP and .314 slugging got him DFAd during the season.

Austin Romine: Incomplete/Non-factor

Spent much of the season hurt. The reason he is mentioned is because he was signed in the offseason to be the veteran backup catcher. The many other backup catchers were either minor leaguers called up or veterans signed to MiLB deals. A total of seven different players caught behind the dish in 2021. Cannot really grade any of the others because they did not rack up much playing time and were there just to fill in.

Chicago Cubs: Production from the outfield was very mixed this season

The departed outfielders: 

Kris Bryant: A-

We have to list him as an outfielder because he played a ton of it as a Cub in 2021. Bryant, for the most part, looked like his old self. He hit 18 home runs and slashed .267/.358/.503 with a .861 OPS and 129 wRC+. He also made his fourth All-Star team. His numbers were better through the first few months, but he went through a slump which saw his slash dip a bit. It was tough seeing him in a Giants uniform when he returned to Wrigley last month, and the trade return was very disappointing, but he will always be a hero on the North Side.

Joc Pederson: C

The “big” acquisition of the offseason, Pederson was either red hot or ice cold. He ended up finishing his brief Cubs tenure with a .230/.300/.418 slash with 11 home runs and a .718 OPS in 73 games. Balance out the hot and cold and Pederson showed solid power with a pretty mediocre slash. It was an overall forgettable tenure with the Cubs for the former All-Star slugger.

Jake Marisnick: C-

The numbers are not that great, .227/.294/.438 in 65 games. However give some credit to Marisnick, during the Cubs’ early success in the season he came up with some big hits. From April 21 through June 11 he hit .318 with four home runs. His nice stretch in May was fun at least and he helped the Cubs sweep the defending champion Dodgers.

The rest: 

Ian Happ: C-

Alright, I know many will want to grade Happ harshly for the year he had, but look at the end results. He hit a career-high 25 home runs with a .226/.323/.434 slash, 103 wRC+ and 1.2 fWAR. On the surface that is at least a C grade with a .320+ OBP and 400+ slugging. That said he really struggled for most of the season. Do this same evaluation on him in July and it is no doubt an F, but his resurgence at the end of the year helped bump him up. From August 10 through the end of the season he posted a 1.004 OPS in 48 games.

Jason Heyward: F

Yeah, you do not expect .214/.280/.347 from a guy making over $20 million in a season. Good dude, good teammate, not good numbers.

Rafael Ortega: A

Another guy who came out of nowhere and performed. The 30-year-old Ortega has bounced around several organizations over the years and had only 143 MLB games under his belt since his 2012 debut with the Rockies prior to this year. Ortega slashed .291/.360/.463 with 11 home runs and a 120 wRC+ in 103 games. He hit for a good average, got on base and showed nice pop with his bat. Very impressive and professional approach from Ortega in 2021, props to him.

There were plenty of other guys who played in the outfield, but all under 30 games and it is hard to grade those players.

Chicago Cubs: The starting rotation was the biggest weakness for the team

Kyle Hendricks: F

Arguably the biggest individual disappointment of 2021 was the season “The Professor” had. The crafty righty who consistently puts up excellent numbers finished 2021 with a career-worst 4.77 ERA, 4.89 FIP, 31 home runs given up and a 1.35 WHIP in 32 starts. Nobody in baseball gave up more hits than Hendricks (200). A 4.77 ERA and 4.89 FIP is normally not good, probably D range, but for a guy with a career 3.36 ERA, this called for an F. For the time being, we might have to give Hendricks the benefit of the doubt and call 2021 just a bad season until further notice.

Zach Davies: F

He never blew anyone away, but Davies had found ways to pitch efficiently throughout his career…except this season. His command was way off with an NL-leading 75 walks, which does not bode well for a guy who does not miss a lot of bats. He ended up with a career-worst 5.78 ERA, 5.45 FIP, 1.6 WHIP and 25 home runs given up in 32 starts. Davies’ career ERA jumped from 3.79 to 4.14 after this season.

Adbert Alzolay: C-

The stuff is there…which is why this was so frustrating. Alzolay features a plus fastball with a great slider. In his first full MLB season, he showed a ton of promise. He struck out 128 hitters in 125 2/3 innings and posted a 2.4 BB/9. Unfortunately the long ball was a major issue, surrendering 25 of them on the year. Alzolay was also prone to the, “One thing goes wrong and the whole thing falls apart” ailment some inexperienced pitchers deal with. Worth noting he posted a 1.40 ERA and 1.98 FIP in eight appearances (19 1/3 innings) out of the pen. Maybe he is better as a reliever? Regardless it’s too early to give up on him completely.

Alec Mills: C

$600K for a soft-tossing spot-starter, you get what you pay for. The nice thing about Mills is he can give you some nice starts even when the overall numbers “meh” at best. His outing against the White Sox in August was epic.

Jake Arrieta: F-

A disaster that cannot be put into words. Arrieta’s second-tenure as a Cub was the exact opposite of the Cy Young-winning, World Series hero he was from 2014-2016. Literally the worst starting pitcher in baseball. An ugly ending that hopefully will not tarnish his legacy in Chicago.

Trevor Williams: D

The 5.06 ERA is not good, nor the 10.4 H/9. At least he could miss some bats with 61 strikeouts in 58 2/3 innings and the FIP was 4.53. Just “blah” overall, which is a shame because when he came up with the Pirates he showed a lot of promise. Plus the story with his dad was really cool. Hope he can figure it out wherever he ends up next year.

Chicago Cubs: There was a lot of good that came out of the bullpen

The departed: 

Craig Kimbrel: A+

This was the guy the Cubs were looking for in 2019. Kimbrel absolutely dominated as a Cub, pitching to a 0.49 ERA, 1.10 FIP, 0.709 WHIP, 15.7 K/9, and converted 23 out of 25 saves. His value brought over Nick Madrigal and Codi Heuer from the White Sox at the deadline.

Ryan Tepera: A 

The man who accidentally got an MVP vote last year pitched extremely well for the Cubs in 2021. He finished with a 2.91 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 0.785 WHIP and 50 strikeouts in 43 1/3innings. He was dealt to the White Sox ahead of the deadline.

Andrew Chafin: A

How could one not love “The Sheriff”? The mustachioed lefty pitched to a 2.06 ERA, 2.69 FIP, 0.839 WHIP and 37 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings. His personality was great and he became a fan favorite. He was dealt to Oakland near the deadline for prospect Greg Deichmann.

Other key relievers: 

Dan Winkler: F

After an overall decent showing in 2020, things feel apart in 2021. He had a stretch where the ERA was great but there was always a lot of traffic when he came on. Walking 30 batters in 39.2 innings will come back to bite you, and eventually it all came crumbling down. He was DFAd with a 5.22 ERA.

Rex Brothers: D

Striking out 75 batters in 53 innings saves him from a failing grade, but the 5.26 ERA and 35 walks certainly don’t help him here.

Codi Heuer: B

Since coming over from the White Sox, Heuer pitched to a 3.14 ERA and 4.36 FIP. There is promise with him, the hope next season is for him to miss more bats as he only struck out 17 in 28 2/3 innings.

Rowan Wick: B-

He was coming back from injury, so it is a bit more difficult to judge his performance as he was getting back into the groove. The stuff looks good, he can miss bats (11.3 K/9) but he will want to get the shaky command back under control in 2022 as he walked 14 in 23 innings of work.

Justin Steele: B-

He showed great promise out of the pen, pitching to a 2.03 ERA and striking out 21 batters in 13.1 innings in relief. He made nine starts and it was a very mixed bag of results, posting a 4.95 ERA and 1.4 WHIP. Steele deserves at least above a C with what he did out of the pen, but we cannot put aside his inconsistent string of starts completely. It was his first year in the majors so he will look to build upon what he has done going forward.

Keegan Thompson: B

A very solid ERA 3.38 and 9.3 K/9 was nice to see from the 26-year-old rookie. Only blemish was the walks being a bit high (31 in 53 1/3 innings) and a 1.5 WHIP.

Adrian Sampson: B+

For a guy who is 29 and has limited MLB experience (41 apperances since 2016), his 2.80 ERA and 1.1 WHIP combined out of the pen and starting was pretty impressive. Nothing overpowering but he got the job done.

Dillon Maples: C-

The ERA was quite good at 2.59, but he issued 25 walks in 31 1/3 innings. It has been the same issue with Maples the past four years, great stuff but no command. Even if he did not get hit much and struck out a lot of guys (11.5 K/9), you cannot give up that many free passes.

Manny Rodriguez: D-

At 24 years old there is some promising stuff with his velocity, but the results were less than desired in 2021. 6.11 ERA, 5.77 FIP, 1.7 WHIP in 17 2/3 innings. Still think he is worth a second look next spring, it was a small sample size and was his first taste of the majors.

Adam Morgan: C

Meh.

Brad Wieck: Incomplete

Spent most of 2021 out, but once again showed promise in the little time he did play. He is mentioned because he still can be a key guy in the pen if he is healthy and on the mound.

Most other relievers for the Cubs either made less than 20 apperances or were just there for mop-up duty in meaningless games. Not much to evalute there.

Of the 69 total players to suit up for the Cubs, 37 were mentioned and 34 were given solidified grades. Might seem like a low number, but 30 players participated in less than 20 games and 17 of those did not even break double-digit games played.

In total broken down by letter grade:

• A: 6
• B: 10
• C: 7
• D: 4
• F: 7

This does not tell the whole story of the team, considering how this does not break down every single member of the roster. One could look at some of these grades and think they are a bit generious considering where the team finished, but there are many other ways to evalute a performance in context of who the player is that opinions will vary.