What's the biggest surprise for you this season?

[davell]

After looking over the earlier predictions, I'm wondering what was the nicest surprise of the year now.....Here are my choices.

 

Arrieta taking the next step to being an unconditional ace/top 5 pitcher in baseball.....

 

Schwarber making his major league debut as early as he did and producing close to a .900 OPS thru 200+ AB's.....

 

Russell coming up as early as he did and being OK at the plate and great in the field.....

 

Coghlan putting up over a 3 WAR season.....

 

KB putting up a relatively quiet 6 WAR pace season and being very solid at 3B defensively in the process.....

 

For me, I truly didn't expect Schwarber would be up at any point, so that has to be mine. Russell is a fairly close 2nd, I didn't suspect he'd get much of a ML audition either for some reason. Arrieta would be 3rd for me, it probably shouldn't be that surprising, after last season. But I expected him to go the opposite way a bit. Coghlan had had a solid 2014, but I didn't expect that to continue either. I'm not sure what I'd say I really expected from KB, but it wouldn't have been a 6 WAR season at least.

[Guest]

Russell and Schwarber combining for 700 PA and 4 fWAR is pretty insane, I did not see that coming whatsoever.

[jersey cubs fan]

Russell and Schwarber combining for 700 PA and 4 fWAR is pretty insane, I did not see that coming whatsoever.

 

I did not see Russell playing at all.

 

I also half expected Arrieta to take a moderate step back, not become a Cy Young candidate.

[Backtobanks]

My biggest surprise is seeing the difference a manager like Maddon can make. I knew he was good, but he's been amazing.

[XZero771679666304]

Schwarber. I figured he'd be in the minors all year working on his catching, and I certainly didn't expect his power to translate at the big league level so quickly when he arrived.

[Guest]

On different note, I thought we were set with starting pitcher depth (if not necessarily quality):

 

Arrieta

Lester

Hammel

Hendricks

Wada

Wood

Jackson

Turner

 

with potential second half contributions from Edwards and Johnson.

 

 

oops.

[ctcf]

I'll go Schwarber/Russell and then Arrieta.

 

Also Willson Contreras emerging as maybe the best prospect in the system.

[Gilby]

It was surprisng how early Russell was called up, but I thought he was mostly MLB ready. Good defense and a ~.700 OPS isn't that surprising from him. I didn't think Arrieta would be this good, but with what he did last year, it also isn't shocking.

 

The correct answer is probably Schwarber being up just a year after being drafted and carrying a .900-1.000 OPS for a good bit of time. However, I'm awfully tempted to say it's Bryant's all around game. It's not surprising that he's hitting well. But I was expecting a brutal defender at third base and not a legitimately fast baserunner. Super exciting what he's shown.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Gilby

[Guest]

Bryant ranking fifth overall in baseball in Base(running) Runs is pretty shocking.

[Guest]

I was surprised at just how early Russell was up but not at all surprised that he was up (even in the first half - I expected that fully if he started hot).

 

It has to be schwarber for me. How soon and how good.

 

Second might be how good Kris Bryant is at non dong related baseball things. If you'd told me he'd be the most valuable player on a low 90s win team with "only" 20 something home runs, I'd have thought you were insane.

[Sammy Sofa]

The baserunning in general; never would have figured they would have been that aggressive or successful.

 

Soler's season being a massive disappointment was a surprise. I was convinced he was going to be maybe the most impressive all-around of the prospects; the lack of power was bad enough, but I never thought he'd be such a disaster defensively.

 

Coghlan still being so useful.

 

Castro being so awful.

 

Bryant being so (relatively) good defensively.

 

Russell showing up as early as he did (though his performance to this point has been about what I'd expect). Schwarber showing up as early as he did.

 

Every single start La Stella has gotten.

[Andy]

Schwarber was and is a stunner, and Russell was at the time, but the #1 surprise for me has to be what Arrieta has done. He's been unbelievable.

[XZero771679666304]

 

Castro being so awful.

 

 

Including the negative, I suppose this would have to be the most surprising thing. I really thought he was going to take a step forward in 2015, not [expletive] the bed.

[Sammy Sofa]

 

Castro being so awful.

 

 

Including the negative, I suppose this would have to be the most surprising thing. I really thought he was going to take a step forward in 2015, not [expletive] the bed.

 

I didn't even think that; I just figured it would be business as usual with maybe a bit more power.

[Clem Fandango]

I thought Coghlan was gonna fizzle back out into oblivion. Him becoming our makeshift Zobrist after all the other failed experiments was the last thing I expected.

 

I was also shocked we made it past the trading deadline with all our core rookies and prospects still on the team, and as soon as the deadline was over we became one of the best teams in baseball in the 2nd half. Would've expected us struggling to compete for the 2nd wild card at best, not looking at an actual possibility of contending for the division.

 

Oh, and Alcantara being useless at each level.

Edited September 17, 2015 by The Logan

[XZero771679666304]

 

Castro being so awful.

 

 

Including the negative, I suppose this would have to be the most surprising thing. I really thought he was going to take a step forward in 2015, not [expletive] the bed.

 

I didn't even think that; I just figured it would be business as usual with maybe a bit more power.

 

Yeah, that's kind of what I meant; I was thinking he'd be usual good Castro while hitting 20+ homers.

[jersey cubs fan]

Castro sucking was much more disappointing than surprising to me. I was hopeful but 2013 plus his approach have been in back of my head.

[Sammy Sofa]

 

Castro being so awful.

 

 

Including the negative, I suppose this would have to be the most surprising thing. I really thought he was going to take a step forward in 2015, not [expletive] the bed.

 

I didn't even think that; I just figured it would be business as usual with maybe a bit more power.

 

Yeah, that's kind of what I meant; I was thinking he'd be usual good Castro while hitting 20+ homers.

 

Damn, that's way more bullish than me; I was thinking 15-20.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I certainly didn't expect to see Russell and Schwarber up this season. And nobody can deny the instant star power of Bryant.

 

But to answer the question, Jake Arrieta, and it's not close.I expected him to be a great #2 behind Lester's ace. But never in my wildest dreams did I expect Bob [expletive] Gibson.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

I know he's only been with us a little bit, but Javy Baez not being terrible is the biggest surprise to me. I've been impressed with his work at Iowa and now up here with us. And he transformed himself in a year when he had to deal with his sister's death and missing time due to injury.

[d_money]

I just like the overall resiliency of the team to bounce back after going down a few runs. Whether it be a result or a combination of good players, youth, manager or whatever - I love that the pedal is to the metal for every game.

[sneakypower]

Soler, Castro, Alcantara being so bad - in that order

[ARCubsFan]

Probably Soler not being good at baseball, I figured he'd be the most polished Cubs rookie

[bhogg]

Overall, Schwarber and Russell have been the biggest surprises.

 

Recently, I've been surprised that Hammel, Hendricks, and Haren have pitched like a bag of hammered buttholes and the team has still won games.

[Guest]

Definitely Schwarber. All the scouting reports said he could hit. But even knowing that, he hadn't played above high-A before this year.

 

I don't think what Russell's done has been all that surprising. He's been a very good defender, which I think everyone expected, and the bat's been ok, which isn't shocking for a 21 year old who only played 74 MiLB games above A-ball.

 

Jake is doing the same thing he did last year, just over a full season. I think most expected some regression, but seeing as he was just as dominant last year, this shouldn't be that shocking.