Addison Russell has really come on lately, which has to leave Cubs fans with an extra fuzzy feeling. The 22-year-old shortstop is most prominently known for his excellent defense in the field, so the fact that he has 18 home runs and an above league average OPS at .767 is all just bonus points. With […]
Tag: Addison Russell
Ranking Russell Over Bryant: Midseason Update
We’ve now all seen enough of Kris Bryant and Addison Russell to understand just how special they are individually. To have them playing at the same time, on the same team, on the same side of one infield is a tremendous blessing; one we shouldn’t take for granted, as we may never see a left-side combination […]
You’re Probably Underrating Addison Russell
A while ago, a columnist in Boston wrote an article charging that Kris Bryant is overrated. I wrote a refutation of it, noting that Bryant just isn’t the kind of player that columnist wants him to be; he’s something different. He’s tremendous, a superstar who figures to be a vital part of the Cubs for […]
That’s So Cub: The Biggest North Side Moments in this Month of May
Sometimes, you just get bored. Sometimes it happens when you’re forced, by dint of an iron-clad social convention and a pronounced lack of anything else to talk about, to ask about your co-workers’ Memorial Day plans for the umpteenth time, and sometimes it happens when you suddenly find that you’ve written the same piece for your Baseball Site one […]
The Great Regression: The Offense
So, last night’s results aside, the Cubs offense has finally struggled. I say finally because we all knew the blistering pace they were on was going to come to an end at some point—no team can keep up that kind of production over 162 games, and this team is no different. Their recent struggles are a […]
Patience Rewarded as Cubs’ Russell Continues to Grow
While all the focus recently has been the Cubs’ torrid stretch of winning—and then, the sky falling because they lost two games (and, I suppose, another yesterday)—there have some issues that have been glossed over by fans and media. It’s true that Jason Heyward has struggled to start the season, but he’s been given a […]
Inside the At-Bat: Addison Russell’s Go Ahead, Eighth Inning Home Run
Welcome to another installment of Inside the At-Bat, BP Wrigleyville’s semi-regular feature breaking down a key battle in the season’s biggest series and most intriguing matchups. The pieces are completed sometime around 1:30 AM EST, so please forgive typos, errant Brooks Baseball charts, and Bob’s Burgers dialogue typed out accidentally by our exhaustive scribe. Tonight, […]
In Torres, a New Development Challenge
The BP Annual’s blurb on Gleyber Torres includes a cautionary aside: “When you’re scouting [Torres’s] stat line, remember the following key considerations: age relative to level, position, and the fact that you really shouldn’t be scouting his stat line.” While cute, it’s salient advice nonetheless: low-level minors stat lines are almost never useful in scouting players […]
PECOTA Day: Why Addison Russell Boasts the Most Interesting, Least Useful Cubs Projection
Addison Russell had a profoundly weird rookie season. You can tell it was weird, because Russell (a right-hitting, slick-fielding middle infielder who hit for surprising power but struck out a ton) got Christian Yelich (a left-hitting corner outfielder whose standout skill is his pure hit tool) as his fifth-closest PECOTA comp for 2016. Freddie Freeman […]
Ranking Russell over Bryant: A Year Later, Does It Hold Up?
It isn’t always easy to remember that just 10 short months ago Kris Bryant and Addison Russell had yet to debut in the major leagues. The joy and surreal nature of the 2015 season left indelible memories that we won’t soon forget, but it also served to firmly establish each of these young men as fixtures on […]