Article: Unsung Heroes Propping Up Cubs Over Strenuous, Successful First Month

[Jake Russell]

We tend to attend to the stars on any sports team, but in baseball, depth matters much more than star power. Beyond even the talent, there's the question of how players who only expected to be backups actually perform when called upon. So far, the Cubs' second line has passed that test with flying colors.

Image courtesy of © Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

The Cubs have been riddled by injuries throughout the first month of the season, losing multiple key players thus far. In spring training, they lost both Patrick Wisdom and Jameson Taillon to back injuries, though both have made their returns and been productive in their roles in the latter half of this month. Wisdom (though just 11 plate appearances) has a 108 wRC+, while Taillon’s ERA sits at 1.50 after a stellar performance versus the Mets on Monday night.

Opening Day took down ace Justin Steele, after he tweaked his hamstring fielding a bunt. Thankfully, Steele is currently on a rehab assignment, and will start Wednesday for Triple-A Iowa. Still, losing him for over a month's worth of starts hurts the team quite a bit.

Since then, Craig Counsell's new crew has lost their best hitter in Seiya Suzuki, with an oblique strain. Suzuki posted a 146 wRC+ through 15 games, after having a 126 wRC+ in 2023. That’s not all: Cody Bellinger fractured two ribs running into the brick wall in center field on the last homestand, which prompted the Cubs to call up Pete Crow-Armstrong. Losing your starting center fielder, to whom you've committed to pay $30 million, hurts a lot, especially since Bellinger was starting to heat up.

Adding injury to injury, Jordan Wicks is now on the IL with forearm tightness, an injury Steele dealt with last summer. Hopefully, the same will happen for Wicks, who has looked like he could fill the third spot in a rotation nicely.

Then there is Kyle Hendricks, who (though he had pitched poorly) was still in the Opening Day rotation, and had a 3.74 ERA in 2023. And Caleb Kilian, one of the Cubs' top depth starters who was reportedly touching 99 in Spring Training, hit the 60-day IL with a shoulder strain.

Of course, the bullpen has had its fair share of injuries as well. Both Drew Smyly and Julian Merryweather, the latter of whom is arguably the Cubs' best reliever, hit the IL, rounding out a painfully substantial set of injuries within the first month of the season.

Despite all of this, at the time I am writing this, the Cubs are 18-11, have their most-ever wins through April, and lead the Brewers by 0.5 games in the NL Central race. How is this possible, given the plethora of injuries? The answer: the Cubs depth is doing its job.

Exhibit A is Mike Tauchman, who was a career 90 wRC+ hitter prior to coming to the Cubs. This season? Tauchman has been the best hitter on the team, hitting for a 169 wRC+ in 88 PAs with just two more strikeouts than walks. Honestly, Tauchman may not be a fourth outfielder anymore–he is likely a starting-caliber player who is behind three fantastic players on the depth chart (those being Happ, Bellinger, and Suzuki). When Suzuki got hurt, Tauchman was able to slot into right field without skipping a beat, but Bellinger getting hurt brought an even tougher road ahead, and it prompted the Cubs to once again call up top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Though Crow-Armstrong had struggled offensively in the minors this year (after his short stint of struggling in the majors last year), the floor with this kid is still super high. He plays incredible defense, as he already has 2 OAA and 2 DRS in just 97 MLB innings in CF. (Small sample size beware, yes, but his calling card is his defense. It’s great to see.) He got his first MLB hit and home run on one swing, the difference maker in the Cubs’ 3-1 win over the Astros to complete the series sweep last Thursday. Being able to bring up talent like this in the absence of one of your star players is great for any team.

The Cubs were also able to use Garrett Cooper in Patrick Wisdom’s absence, as he had a 120 wRC+ before being DFAd (perhaps unjustly) for even more young talent, in Matt Mervis. Mervis had a 153 wRC+ in Iowa, forcing the issue with Cubs brass just when the team needed to swap a right-handed bat for a left-handed one on the MLB roster. He hasn’t gotten going yet, but Mervis still has time to figure it out. The upside is tremendous.

It’s also incredible just how good Javier Assad has been. He has a 2.00 ERA this year, as he has seen an uptick in strikeout rate (by 3.6%). Last year, he had an ERA of 3.05, too. He wasn’t even supposed to start the year in the rotation, until Taillon got hurt, but Assad has done nothing but pitch well in the majors. This kind of production out of your swingman coming into the season is not expected, but a testament to how deep the Cubs are. Considering that they have Ben Brown and Hayden Wesneski, who have both had to make starts now, that point only grows stronger. Brown owns a 2.51 ERA as a starter (though it’s just three starts), while Wesneski went four innings with just one earned run allowed against the Red Sox in the series finale.

The Cubs may not keep getting this kind of production out of their depth guys, but the fact that they have so far is huge. If they had to replace some of their star production with replacement-level players, or even below-replacement-level players, they would likely not be where they are right now. It also goes to show how important playing matchups correctly is. Guys like Wisdom, Nick Madrigal, Alexander Canario, Matt Mervis, and Pete Crow-Armstrong all need to be platooned more often than not, and Counsell has done an excellent job of that. He’s also done a pretty good job of pulling starters (like Brown, and Wesneski especially) before it’s too late. Those guys may not be able to face guys a third time within a game yet, and that is where pitching matchups are key, as well.

The Cubs may not be at full strength, and they may not be at any point in time for the rest of the season, but they’ll be able to stay afloat because of how good the depth is on this team. Every single player has a role they can serve while everyday guys (like Suzuki and Bellinger) are out. It’s an overlooked aspect to roster construction in general, but Jed Hoyer could not have done any better in this department.

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