3 Chicago Cubs whose metrics indicate a hot streak is on the horizon

1. Porter Hodge

Porter Hodge has taken the Cubs bullpen by storm since his promotion to the big leagues. Passing the naked eye test with flying colors, Hodge has excelled with his fastball and sweeper, as indicated by his 2.29 ERA and 2.79 FIP. With his sweeper, he has already recorded a Run-Value of four and has only thrown the pitch 99 times on the season. That's not all, however, as this run of solid production indicates it's more than just batters that haven't gotten to know him yet:

Hodge 2024:

BABIP: .200
ERA: 2.29, xERA: 2.49

For one, the BABIP of .200 is absurdly low and will rise over time. For reference, Justin Steele is one of the best pitchers on the staff, and his BABIP sits at .265. Shota Imanaga's is at .286. For Hodge, however, Fangraphs thinks that ERA is not far off, indicating that he has been truly dominant. I think Hodge can take the next step, going from great to elite, if he cuts down his walk percentage. He currently owns an excellent strikeout percentage of 28%, coupled with an awful 10.5 BB%.

Allowing free passes will always get you in trouble, and that's where the higher FIP comes from. His .147 batting average against is not something you can assume is a fluke, even if it is a smaller sample. My prediction for Hodge is that although he's already been very efficient, I see him cutting down the walks and becoming unhittable.