Cubs Most Improved Player - 2024

As the MLB playoffs continue without the Chicago Cubs, it’s important to remember that this season wasn’t a complete loss. Plenty of guys made significant strides in the major leagues that might make us all more bullish on their outlook for next season, when hope will spring anew. Let’s take a look at the voting results for the Cubs’ most improved player. 

Honorable Mention 
Seiya Suzuki - 132 G, .283/.366/.482, 21 HR, 73 RBI, 74 R
Suzuki received only one vote, but it was a first place vote, and candidly, that vote was me! So let me defend my selection a bit. He had a career year! 3.5 fWAR and 21 home runs are both career highs. However, that seems less impressive when you compare those figures to last year’s figures of 3.2 fWAR and 20 home runs. 

Here’s the thing: so much of last season’s production came in the second half of the season that it was fair to wonder what version of Suzuki we would see in 2024. The inconsistent but potentially great version? Or the one that is a top 30 hitter in baseball? He answered this question by posting a wRC+ of 130 or greater in every month except for May, when he was coming back from an injury. Make no mistake about it, Seiya Suzuki is one of the better hitters in baseball, and he proved that this season. 

Porter Hodge - 39 G, 43.0 IP, 52 K, 19 BB, 1.88 ERA, 0.88 WHIP
One year ago, Hodge was coming off of a season in Double-A Tennessee where he posted a 5.13 ERA. Now, he has to be considered the favorite to be penciled in as the Chicago Cubs’ closer for the 2025 season. Stuff has never been the question for the flame-throwing reliever - it’s command. Hodge kept his walk rate to a bad but bearable 11.6%in the big leagues this season, down from 13.6% in Tennessee last year, and his K-BB% was 20.1%, up from 15.0%. 

Javier Assad - 29 G, 147 IP, 124 K, 63 BB, 3.73 ERA, 1.40 WHIP
Assad had a higher ERA this year (3.73) than last (3.05) thanks, in part, to a higher walk rate. That might not feel like an improvement, however, continuing to induce soft contact and limit runs in a much larger sample size with the big league team is a meaningful development. He threw 147 innings in 29 starts with the Cubs this year, up from 109 ⅓ innings in 10 starts and 32 appearances overall last season. 

Dansby Swanson - 149 G, .242/.312/.390, 16 HR, 66 RBI, 82 R
The Cubs’ shortstop certainly had a huge mid-season improvement in 2024. After posting just a 79 wRC+ in the first half of the season, Swanson hit for a scintillating 124 wRC+ after the midsummer classic. Part of that 124 second half wRC+ was buoyed by a .335 BABIP, but he did also drop his strikeout rate to 20.7 percent, which would be a career best for a full season. At the very least, he has given us all a much better taste in our mouths heading into 2025. 

The Top 3

#3: Miguel Amaya - 117 G, .232/.288/.357, 8 HR, 47 RBI, 32 R
Similar to Swanson, Amaya had a really rough first half of the season. So much so that the catching position was looking like a real question mark heading into 2025. Thankfully, the Cubs’ catcher answered the bell in the second half of the season, posting a 113 wRC+, up from a lowly 60 in the first half. He made a meaningful swing adjustment right around the time the results got better, which you can read more about here. Improving the outlook at the catcher position should be one of the main priorities for Jed Hoyer this offseason. Amaya, at least, continues to be an intriguing player behind the plate for the Cubs going forward.   

#2: Jameson Taillon - 28 G, 165 ⅓ IP, 125 SO, 33 BB, 3.27 ERA, 1.13 WHIP
After subpar results in his first season as a Cub, there was plenty of reason to believe that Taillon would be better in year two. I’m happy to say that he was absolutely much better in year two. He gave up fewer home runs in more innings pitched, trimmed his walk rate, and cut his ERA from 4.84 to 3.27, which was 16th among qualified pitchers this season. He was reliable, taking the mound just about every fifth day for the Cubs after an early season injury. The Cubs should feel very comfortable with Jameson Taillon being in their rotation heading into the 2025 season. 

Winner
Pete Crow-Armstrong - 123 G, .237/.286/.384, 10 HR, 47 RBI, 46 R
After a rough debut at the big league level last season, it was fair to question what kind of production the Cubs would get from Pete Crow-Armstrong this year. After Cody Bellinger cracked a rib and PCA was forced into action with the Cubs, it was fair to question what the Cubs would get from PCA over the course of his career. He hit just .203/.253/.329 in the first half, which included a lowly month of June where he hit .145/.192/.203. 

Then, it all clicked. The Cubs’ rookie was an above average hitter in the second half of the season, to the tune of a .262/.310/.425 line. The defense is as good as advertised, and he was a menace on the bases, stealing 27 bases in 30 tries. Combine all of that and the youngster was worth 2.7 fWAR, which was fifth among position players on the Cubs. The sky's the limit for PCA going forward. 

How do you feel about our choice for Cubs Most Improved Player in 2024? How would you rank the players? Let us know down below.