The Cubs had a very good 2015, and many experts are saying they’ve had an even better offseason so far (if that’s even possible). When people who know baseball agree that a 97-win team has “won” the offseason, you have to feel pretty good about the state of said team going forward. That is, until […]
Tag: Kyle Schwarber
How Lucky Were the 2015 Cubs?
On Monday, July 21st, the Cubs were facing off against the Cincinnati Reds at the Great American Ballpark. They were 49-42 and only a game ahead of the San Francisco Giants for the second NL wild card spot. Down by two runs in the top of the ninth with a man on, rookie Kyle Schwarber […]
Cubs Player Profile: Kyle Schwarber
Kyle Schwarber Position: That’s a good question. Probably outfield. 2015 Stats: 69 G, 273 PA, .246/.355/.487, .307 TAv, 1.9 WARP Year in Review: Kyle Schwarber impressed the Cubs’ brass from the moment they first met him, in February of 2014. That month, Schwarber’s Indiana Hoosiers traveled to Arizona for a series of springtime games against Washington, Utah, and Oregon […]
Moving Kyle Schwarber’s Defense from Controversy to Conversation
I don’t court controversy. I don’t even flirt with it when I see it at the bar. Controversy is single for a reason, and bad news for anyone trying to build a positive reputation as an analyst in baseball or any other field. And yet, despite all my safeguards and precautions, controversy found me at Wrigley […]
BP Unfiltered: We Got Kyle Schwarber to Say “Man Parts”
This piece, by BP Wrigleyville’s Rian Watt, originally ran as part of “BP Unfiltered”, Baseball Prospectus’s less-than-serious home for small or light-hearted pieces that maybe aren’t as analytical as their usual content. We thought you’d enjoy it here. This all happened an hour ago, roughly two hours before the first pitch of a critical NLCS […]
Inside the At-Bat: Kyle Schwarber’s Eighth-Inning Pop-Out
In baseball, momentum is a fleeting, unsustainable commodity. It can last a game, an inning, or, at the absolute least, one pitch. As we discovered in the eighth inning of Game Three of the NLCS, when the momentum ceases in a pitch, it’s as deflating as it is sudden. If the Cubs had a standout offensive […]
Inside the At-Bat: Kyle Schwarber’s Game-Winning, First-Inning Single
Of all the tired baseball tropes, “He’s too young to realize the enormity of the moment,” is perhaps the most irritating, and flat-out wrong to boot. If you (the reader) have ever been between ages 20 and 25, you know the world can seem huge; especially when you’re just starting out in your chosen profession. Kyle […]
Seven Surprises from the 2015 Cubs Season
The Cubs have already surprised a lot of knowledgeable people by winning 97 games and making the playoffs this year. How did they do it? A lot of it was pretty predictable: Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant led the offense, while Jon Lester put together a very good season after a rocky start. But a lot of […]
Even in Dark Times, the Cubs See Light
Oftentimes, it’s hard to really pinpoint when a team became great, that moment when the players, the fans, basically anyone following the team accepted the team isn’t just pretending, they legitimately are good. But for the 2015, it’s hard to deny when that stretch came. Kris Bryant certainly didn’t hesitate. “I think in early August […]
Schwarber and the High Heat
Sometimes you just need to take a moment and admire your own work. It’s something Kyle Schwarber has been known to do early in his career, and he did so on Tuesday night when he watched his two-run shot in the seventh inning leave the yard as he gave his team a 5-4 lead. “It’s […]