Cubs Fans, Quit Your Worrying: Alex Bregman Is Heating Up Just In The Nick Of Time

The Chicago Cubs knew exactly what they were getting when they signed Alex Bregman to a five-year, $175 million contract this winter: a proven veteran, an excellent defender, a consistent offensive contributor and, perhaps most importantly, someone who has already experienced the pressure of playing meaningful October baseball.

Unfortunately for the Cubs, Bregman’s North Side career did not get off to the strongest of starts.

Through the first half of the season, the third baseman was slashing just .241/.336/.359, which added up to a .696 OPS. With a 97 wRC+, he was actually a below-average hitter for the first three-and-a-half months of the year. For a player making $35 million, that obviously wasn't what the Cubs were hoping to see.

Luckily, things appear to be trending in the right direction at exactly the right time.

Across 86 plate appearances since the All-Star Break, Bregman has looked much more like the player Cubs fans expected to see when he signed his massive contract. He’s slashing .283/.347/.467, good for an .814 OPS and a 126 wRC+. That’s a pretty significant difference from what Bregman was doing earlier in the year. And perhaps even more encouragingly, there are some clear signs that his approach is changing.

Bregman has been really leaning into his pull-side power lately; his pull-rate is above 50% in the second half thus far, including a huge 54.8% mark in August. This has always been his key to success, and it's a good sign that he's rediscovering it now. Despite the team's overall success throughout the year (even as Bregman has struggled), it's clear that the Cubs will need him at the peak of his power if they want to win in the playoffs.

As the Cubs get closer to October baseball, Bregman has something that is incredibly difficult to find: an abundance of postseason experience. They have a firm hold of the top National League Wild Card spot and might even be able to make a run at the NL Central title. And after bolstering their pitching staff at the trade deadline with additions such as Kevin Gausman and Ryan Zeferjahn, it’s pretty clear what this team is trying to accomplish. The Cubs want to make a deep postseason run. Bregman knows a thing or two about doing exactly that.

The veteran won two World Series championships during his time with the Houston Astros, and he wasn’t simply along for the ride. He was a crucial part of why Houston was able to bring home those championships. During the Astros’ 2017 championship run, Bregman recorded seven extra-base hits across 18 postseason games as a 23-year-old. Then, during Houston’s 2022 run, he posted an impressive .948 OPS throughout the playoffs. That experience matters.

That was part of the appeal for Chicago when it signed him. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer made that clear when discussing the decision to bring Bregman to Chicago during the introductory press conference:

“He plays good defense. He makes great contact. He has power. He makes good decisions. On top of that, I think he provides a level of leadership to a team that's ready to win. I think that's really important. He wants to make other guys better. He wants to lead. And I think that there's not a lot of guys like that in the game that want that responsibility.”

The Cubs have a roster capable of making a deep postseason run. Their offense has the talent, their pitching staff has been strengthened, and they’ve put themselves in a strong position to secure a playoff spot. What they didn’t necessarily have last year was a player with Bregman’s combination of postseason experience and proven leadership (and no, that's not a shot at Kyle Tucker). Now they do, and Bregman appears to be heating up at exactly the right time.

His first half was disappointing, especially considering the expectations that came with his contract. But if this recent stretch is an indication of what’s to come, Chicago could be getting the version of Bregman they expected when they handed him $175 million.

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