Article: How Mike Tauchman Keeps Winning New Converts

[RandallPnkFloyd]

Injuries that have limited or removed all three of the Chicago Cubs' top outfielders should have dented their record more than it has so far. They're 18-11, atop the National League Central, and they owe a lot of that to a guy I didn't believe in at all.

Image courtesy of © Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

I spent the better part of 2023 refusing to accept Mike Tauchman as a legitimate part of the Chicago Cubs’ roster. A fringe player over 30 years old who hadn't made an appearance at the big-league level in 2022 wasn’t worthy of 400-plus plate appearances for a team with playoff aspirations, in my estimation. Obviously, that opinion isn’t unique, in itself. 

Although Craig Counsell reportedly locked Tauchman into a roster spot from the jump this spring, my initial assumption was that he wouldn’t be around to see 2024 all the way through. To keep pace with the other contenders in the National League, the team needs to deploy the best hitters in the organization. The outfield depth the Cubs have at the upper minors is close to a breakthrough, ready to supplant him.

Yet, as the calendar prepares to flip to May, I’m dangerously close to not only accepting Tauchman as a fixture on this roster, but accepting it entirely as legitimate. Naturally, the striking moment was his three-run homer at Fenway on Sunday night. Even if the Cubs ultimately lost that game, that shot injected new life into one of the more monotonous viewing experiences of the year. And it’s not like it was an individual flash, either. 

Tauchman leads the team in fWAR (0.9). He leads the team in walk rate (17.1%). Nobody has a higher HardHit% than his 42.6%. As a result, his on-base percentage is pacing the group at .432. This is across 88 plate appearances--not enough to qualify, but only 30 or so behind the team’s full-time group.

The deeper you drill, the more encouraging It gets. In addition to the hard contact, Tauchman is working counts with real depth. His 4.8 pitches per plate appearance represents a career high, and a notable jump over last year’s 4.3. It’s also well above league leader Mike Trout’s 4.6 P/PA. Among 210 hitters with at least 80 PAs this year, Tauchman’s 17.3 percent O-Swing% is one of the 10 lowest. Conversely, his Z-Swing%, at 73.7, is one of the 25 highest among that group.

Even more encouraging is his contact distribution. Tauchman’s 40-ish percent Oppo% is a 10-point jump from last year. He’s been more active in swinging on the outer part of the strike zone, but is driving it from that spot, as well. He’s at a 42.9% hard-hit rate on opposite-field contact, which represents a 20-point jump from 2023. His eye for the zone is elite, even on a team where “professional at-bats” run deep. Even in working deep counts, he’s still managed to cut his strikeout rate down to a career-low 19.3%.

What has driven me to an actual appreciation of Tauchman – beyond the exceptional discipline – is the timing in all of this. It’s not that he wasn’t getting run with Seiya Suzuki or Cody Bellinger in the lineup; he was. But with that pair on the IL, Tauchman’s approach in the lineup has been indispensable. Since Suzuki hit the IL on Apr. 15, Tauchman has reached base safely in 11 of 14 games. Eight of those 10 have featured multiple appearances on base.

The sample isn’t large enough to showcase a genuine improvement in the approach. Nor are we sure about the composition of the lineup once everyone is healthy. While Tauchman may not be the most impactful bat on paper, the skill set he’s providing in 2024 remains crucial within this lineup, especially as contact wanes in certain sectors of the starting nine. He’ll remain a fixture in this lineup, even upon the return of the other two-thirds of the team’s starting outfield. And he should.

Maybe David Ross was right all along.

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[CubinNY]

The Athletic has an article up. Tauchman has an 8% increase in barrel rate so for this year. I don't know that that is a skill, but if it is, yeehaw!