bdutts
- Houston, Texas
His performance in the minors isn't all that good, either. But getting him stretched out is the main thing.
Chicago Cubs 2026
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
How long can you allow Swanson to be a black hole in the lineup? It seems like the high leverage situations always find him.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
He does this every year and always finds his way back to being a league-average hitter while being an essential lynchpin to the best defense in baseball.
Yeah, unfortunately Swanson has had at least one month per season since joining the Cubs when he’s hit under .200. Hopefully he breaks out of it soon. He is walking more than normal, which has his OBP only slightly lower than last year (.293 vs 300) and his runs scored are just 3 fewer than this time last year.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
He's not been this bad. He's hitting .183 through 191 ABs. Slugging .330 with an OPS of .623. OPS+ is 82. On pace for less than 100 hits. He had 24 homers last year and 22 in 2023. If it doesn't start happening soon it's not going to happen this season. He's so bad he's worthy of being DH'd for.
He looks completely lost at the plate. Maybe he should focus on hitting the other way. It certainly works for Hoerner.
Who is at Illini night tonight at Wrigley? My kid is, what is wrong with this picture, why aren't I??
Heard Bielema on the Score this morning and was reminded again how good he is with the media, which those of us up here away from the daily coverage in Champaign probably forget from time to time. Hope it's a great night out there for everyone. I-L-L
Heard Bielema on the Score this morning and was reminded again how good he is with the media, which those of us up here away from the daily coverage in Champaign probably forget from time to time. Hope it's a great night out there for everyone. I-L-L
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
They exploded for four hits tonight.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Why not have Bregman bunt in the ninth?
That's OK. We have an easy couple of weeks against bad teams coming up.
0-8 w/RISP on Sunday. 1-7 tonight. (Would have been worse if they didn't run themselves out of more opportunities TWICE.)
4 singles all night. 3 in 7 innings off Hall of Fame bound Gage Jump.
6 1/2 games behind Brewers and a 1/2 game out of last place.
This team is pathetic.
0-8 w/RISP on Sunday. 1-7 tonight. (Would have been worse if they didn't run themselves out of more opportunities TWICE.)
4 singles all night. 3 in 7 innings off Hall of Fame bound Gage Jump.
6 1/2 games behind Brewers and a 1/2 game out of last place.
This team is pathetic.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Eight games back in loss column.
This isn’t about the Cubs but rather one of their rivals. It also speaks to why stats aren’t the whole story at the minor league level. Teams have a plan for prospects and look for particular development milestones that aren’t always reflected in stats.
Brewers are reportedly bringing up their #17 prospect Tyson Hardin to make a start. I had never heard of him, so I was curious and checked him out. He was drafted in the 12th round in 2024 after being a reliever at Miss St., and tossed a few inning at A ball that year. Last year he had a solid year starting at A+ (11 games) and finishing at AA (10 games). This year he was sent back to AA to start the season. There is where it gets interesting.
Again, I know next to nothing about this guy and some type of injury might have played a part of it or it could have been about adding a new pitch or wanting him to alter his pitch sequencing. I am strictly going off the stats. Looking at those, it is hard to say he wasn’t having a worse season repeating the same level — not what you want to see. His ERA went from 3.29 (10 games) to 7.67 (7 games), his WHIP from 1.23 to 1.77, and his opponent BA from .267 to .313. This year at AA he didn’t give up less than two ERs in a game and in his final 3 starts he gave up 14 ERs in 13.2 innings. So what do you do? Promote him to AAA of course. And in 3 games at the higher level, he’s getting fewer strikeouts but averaging a shade over 6 innings an outing (about 4.1 at AA) with an ERA of 0.96, WHIP of 0.91 and opponent BA of .161.
Brewers are reportedly bringing up their #17 prospect Tyson Hardin to make a start. I had never heard of him, so I was curious and checked him out. He was drafted in the 12th round in 2024 after being a reliever at Miss St., and tossed a few inning at A ball that year. Last year he had a solid year starting at A+ (11 games) and finishing at AA (10 games). This year he was sent back to AA to start the season. There is where it gets interesting.
Again, I know next to nothing about this guy and some type of injury might have played a part of it or it could have been about adding a new pitch or wanting him to alter his pitch sequencing. I am strictly going off the stats. Looking at those, it is hard to say he wasn’t having a worse season repeating the same level — not what you want to see. His ERA went from 3.29 (10 games) to 7.67 (7 games), his WHIP from 1.23 to 1.77, and his opponent BA from .267 to .313. This year at AA he didn’t give up less than two ERs in a game and in his final 3 starts he gave up 14 ERs in 13.2 innings. So what do you do? Promote him to AAA of course. And in 3 games at the higher level, he’s getting fewer strikeouts but averaging a shade over 6 innings an outing (about 4.1 at AA) with an ERA of 0.96, WHIP of 0.91 and opponent BA of .161.
Seiya was up next.
Dansby Swanson has transformed himself to an extremely more expensive version of Andrelton Simmons (but with better hair).
Mario Mendoza with a little more power on the occasion that he does hit the ball.
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
With the way the Brewers develop pitchers, I'd copy everything they do...
It is amazing. On May 10, he starts at AA and throws 3.2 innings, giving up 8 hits, 6 ERs, a HR and 2 walks with 3 Ks. His next start is in AAA on May 17 against Iowa. He throws 7 innings giving up 4 hits, 1 ER and 3 walks with 6 Ks. His next two starts he goes 11.2 innings with 6 hits, 1 ER, 4 walks and 12 Ks. Now he’s in the majors. Just crazy! I’d really like to know what he was working on and what prompted the promotion to AAA.
Sometimes promotions in the minors are just number crunches, just like the bigs. Guy gets hurt, and ready or not, next man up. I'd guess he was battling something in his delivery, (maybe tipping pitches) and finally got it straightened out.
Sometimes a guy can just get locked in and stay there for awhile...
In Jake Arrieta 's last 5 starts in Baltimore in 2013, he averaged 9 hits and 6 walks per 9 IP. He gets to Chicago and immediately it's 5 hits and 4 walks... We all know what happened the following 4 years. (What i wouldn't give to watch 2015 Jake Arrieta pitch in a Cub uniform for the rest of the season...)
Let's hope this kid's story is very different. lol
When they traded Durbin for Harrison to Boston this offseason my brother & I knew they just landed another ace. He's easily a MLB top-20 SP this season, and isn't even the best SP on their team. Truly fascinated by their pitching development and analysis.
In semi-hopeful Cubs pitching news, Edward Cabrera is back from his blister/IL stint this weekend against San Francisco.
The promotion to AAA could have been just a numbers game, but on the surface a very strange choice to be promoted. He had a 7.76 ERA, a 1.77 WHIP and hitters were batting .313 against him in 7 starts this year. And it’s not like the bad start right before the promotion just screwed up his numbers. In his final three AA starts, he threw 13.1 innings and had a 9.47 ERA and 1.88 WHIP.
As to Arrieta, very dissimilar situation. He switched organizations and spent 1.5 months at Iowa before pitching with the Cubs, so he and Cubs had time to make adjustments. Hardin is with same organization and there was only 7 days between his last start at AA and his first start at AAA. Obviously, something clicked. Just very curious what it is they were working on.
Boyd is making his second rehab start on Saturday. Hopefully, that’s all he’ll need.