Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/7/24): Suzuki DH, Tauchman in RF, Assad Pitching
The Cubs are playing metronome baseball, swaying from bad to good with each game as they tick away the last few weeks of the season. Their easy win over the Twins on Tuesday night wasn’t just overshadowed by the Olympics, as a dark cloud settled over the club with news that Adbert Alzolay will undergo UCL reconstruction. What’s more, Cody Bellinger is out for at least one game due to a sore hamstring as the result of an awkward landing on first base last night.
Last year’s team MVP has already missed time with cracked ribs and a broken finger, with the latter keeping him out of the field lately, so the Cubs can ill afford another absence. And I mean that in more ways than one since the club would almost certainly prefer Bellinger opt out of his three-year deal. We’ll just have to wait and see on that one.
On the mound for the home team looking to sew up another series win is Javier Assad, who is still seeking a greater degree of consistency. While he only allowed one run to the Cardinals the other day, he lasted just four innings and walked four batters in the process. Since returning from the IL on July 13, Assad has walked 12 batters to just 10 strikeouts and has managed just 15.2 innings in four starts.
He’s gone 1-0 in that stretch, however, so the offense has been helping him out. Maybe they can do more of the same behind Ian Happ in left and Michael Busch at first. Seiya Suzuki occupies the DH role with Isaac Paredes at third and Mike Tauchman in right. Nico Hoerner is at second, Dansby Swanson is at short, Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center, and Christian Bethancourt is behind the plate.
They’re facing 28-year-old Joe Ryan, one of MLB’s top strike-throwers since debuting against the Cubs back in 2021. In a quirk of the schedule, he actually pitched against them twice in September of that season with back-to-back starts against Cleveland sandwiched in between. Ryan did pretty well in those outings, but we can’t really take much from three years ago. Ryan’s walk rate is in the 95th percentile among his peers this season and only 16 qualified pitchers boast a number lower than his 5.7% mark since ’21.
Ryan’s Baseball Savant page is very red, save for a paltry 35.6% groundball rate that would be more detrimental if he gave up more hard contact. He avoids damage by pounding the upper-middle portion of the zone with his 94 mph fastball and then dropping his 89 mph splitter at the knees. Ryan’s sweeper and slider aren’t nearly as good, but they combine for less than a quarter of his pitches.
The results show pretty significant reverse splits, with right-handed batters posting slash and wOBA numbers at least 30 points higher than their left-handed counterparts. Though they strike out a lot more, particularly against the aforementioned breaking balls, righties have been able to barrel Ryan up more often and have a .302 BABIP that is much better than the .234 produced by lefties. The home/road splits are negligible, for what it’s worth.
Can the Cubs continue fanning those dying embers of hope or will they piss on what remains and have us all embracing the reprieve of a day off tomorrow? We’ll find out at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
Wednesday matinee with Minnesota!
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— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 7, 2024