Cory Sparks

Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images The Chicago Cubs have an interesting split going on. Right-handed hitters have hovered around or below a 100 wRC+, while lefties have been much better. As explored by our own @Yirsandy Rodríguez this all came to fruition even after the Cubs effectively swapped Kyle Tucker for Alex Bregman. In this article, we’ll go over three right-handed hitters who need to step up for a squad that’s aiming to turn the season around. Dansby Swanson Swanson is the first name that deserves plenty of attention. While he was once a No. 1 overall pick and has one of the better gloves in all of professional baseball, the bat has been lagging behind with his struggles lying in a couple of areas. For starters, he just isn’t hitting the ball very hard. That all starts with bat speed. Swanson is swinging, on average, at 71.2 miles per hour, putting him in the 36th percentile. That below-average metric has a domino effect on a few other analytics, as Swanson has also clocked in an average hard-hit percentage of 41.2% (49th percentile) and a below-average barrel rate of 7.2% (40th percentile). This is more than just a quality of contact issue, though. Swanson is hitting a career-worst .180 with just a .285 on-base percentage, and a huge reason for that is his lack of contact. The former Vanderbilt Commodore is striking out 23.3% of the time, dropping him in the 36th percentile among big league hitters. His whiff rate is even further below the league-average watermark, as his 30.5% mark has him in the 18th percentile. An elite baserunner and fielder, Swanson will always have a high floor. But he'll never live up to his ceiling with this kind performance at the plate. Seiya Suzuki It’s a contract year for Seiya Suzuki, yet so far in 2026, his bat hasn’t produced quite the level of production we saw from him just a season ago. While Suzuki does have nine homers in just a little over 200 trips to the plate, the real issue has lied in his in-zone contact. Suzuki doesn’t venture out of the zone much, as he finds himself in the 83rd percentile in chase rate. However, he’s whiffing almost 27% of the time, which is one of the higher marks in MLB. Suzuki’s walk percentage is up a tick, operating at 11%, a sign of his improved plate approach. Yet the 31-year-old has struggled against secondaries, with batting averages below the Mendoza line against both off-speed and breaking pitches. His hard-hit rate, barrel percentage, and bat speed are all better than the league average, so it’s really about just making contact more often and capitalizing from there. Alex Bregman Last, but certainly not least, the Cubs need more out of their star third baseman. Alex Bregman signed a five-year, $175 million contract with the North Siders this past offseason, just months removed from his one-year stint with the Boston Red Sox. Approach-wise, Bregman has done his job and proven to be a savvy veteran on this Cubs’ offense. He is among the top quarter of the league in squared-up rate (89th percentile), chase rate (88th percentile), whiff rate (83rd percentile) and strikeout rate (73rd percentile), yet the hard-hit numbers have not been there for the 32-year-old. The former Houston Astros corner infielder has a below average hard-hit rate and just a .681 OPS in his first season with the Cubs. He remains an elite defender at third base (+3 outs above average), but much like Swanson, the bat simply needs to improve to be worth the value of Bregman’s contract. View full article

Jordan Wicks was once a 2021 first-round pick. After rising up to the majors for the first time in 2023, the Cubs' southpaw has hopped back and forth between the Triple-A and big league levels. In this video, we'll dive into his struggles and why the lefty is so susceptible to hard contact. View full video

The Chicago Cubs have called up their fourth-ranked prospect in Kevin Alcantara. This is the third time in as many seasons that the speedy outfielder will make the jump from Triple-A to the big leagues. What does the 'Jaguar' need to do to make Wrigleyville his permanent home? We break it all down in this video. View full video

Image courtesy of © Allan Henry-Imagn Images Kevin Alcántara is heading back to the big leagues. In a week where the Chicago Cubs have called up two of their top five prospects, their fifth-ranked farmhand is headed to Wrigley Field to try and prove himself yet again. Let’s break down what Alcántara has been up to, what he can provide a big-league club that’s aiming to snap a painful slump, and what a realistic outlook for this outfielder looks like. Context On The Jaguar The New York Yankees originally signed Alcántara out of the Dominican Republic back in 2018. He signed for one million dollars and was scouted as a young talent with a sky-high ceiling among that year’s international class. He came over to the Cubs as a part of the Anthony Rizzo trade in 2021, when the North Siders were embarking on a rebuild, and he’s become a flashy prospect in the upper levels of the minor leagues in recent years. Now, he gets the call to show off his skillset in the major leagues for the third time in as many years. Strengths For Alcántara’s strengths, his frame jumps off of the page right away. Standing at a slender 6-foot-6 and 188 pounds, the combination of power, speed and overall ability to make rangy plays fits the bill. His best attribute is a 60-grade fielding tool, as the lengthy D.R. native has is able to cover plenty of ground out there in the outfield. His next three attributes are all a 55-grade on the 20-to-80 scouting scale. The power has really come through to start Alcántara’s 2026 campaign. Through just 41 games in Triple-A Iowa, the ‘Jaguar’ has slugged 15 home runs, a mark that’s tied for the most in the International League. The strong righty also managed to register six doubles for what is one of his career-best tallies of a .906 OPS. The run-tool sits at a 55-grade as well, and while he’s never stolen more than 15 bases in a season, the ability to stretch a base hit the extra 90 feet, and to really challenge opposing arms, is there. Lastly, Alcántara’s arm has been on display too. Just like how his wiry frame allows for a naturally long swing path, he can whip the ball into the field, showcasing an ability to be a playmaker in multiple capacities. Competition And Weaknesses If this guy has so much power, and grades as a plus defender, then why has the fifth-ranked Cubs’ prospect been sent back down to Triple-A both times after getting to the Windy City? One reason is Chicago’s rather crowded outfield. Pete Crow-Armstrong just signed a long-term deal in center field. On top of the Gold Glover’s long-term future getting secured, Ian Happ has provided Gold Glove defense in left field, while Seiya Suzuki’s slugging has justified an everyday spot in the lineup, usually slotting him over in right field. Michael Conforto has also been hanging around a .300 batting average, and after some late-game heroics, he has found himself in right field a handful of times too. Along with Craig Counsell’s talented outfield, Alcántara has struggled mightily with strikeouts. It’s an issue that’s plagued him throughout his career, and his career-worst 30 percent strikeout rate in 2025 showed that the 23-year-old still has a pretty assertive approach. It’s been the same story to start this year, as the talented outfielder struck out 60 times in 41 Triple-A games despite the uptick in power numbers. Kevin Alcántara’s Outlook What happens with the ‘Jaguar’ this time around? There are a couple of factors at play. Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki are both on contract years. Their play will determine the future of the outfield, but if Alcántara can showcase his raw skills at the major-league level and reels in his plate discipline, that could just as easily influence his immediate and long-term future with the big-league ball club. View full article

After shutting out his opponents in back-to-back starts to begin the season, Edward Cabrera has allowed at least one home run in five consecutive appearances and holds an earned run average north of six in the month of May. What is going wrong for the Chicago Cubs' right-handed pitcher? We break it all down in this video. View full video

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images After getting shot out of a cannon to start the 2026 campaign and looking ultra-impressive, Cubs right-handed pitcher Edward Cabrera is hitting his first slump as a member of the North Siders. Today, we’ll dive into what’s gone south for him, specifically in the month of May. Setting The Table As a reminder, the Cubs acquired Cabrera in a trade for outfield prospect Owen Caissie, the jewel of their farm system who got a cup of coffee in the major leagues last season. That was a high price to pay, but with Justin Steele being set back and Cade Horton going down (among a litany of injuries that have popped up with this starting pitching staff), it looks like addressing the rotation was a pretty smart choice. Now, let’s dive into his struggles, because those very injuries make Cabrera indispensable for the team. A Rough Month Of May After a strong first couple of starts in the 2026 season, Cabrera has an earned run average north of 6.00 in the month of May. He allowed a season-high five earned runs a couple of starts ago, and he has now given up at least three earned runs in seven consecutive starts, a streak I’m sure he’d love to break Wednesday night against the Brewers. What’s contributing to this drop-off from the Cabrera who didn’t allow a single earned run over his first pair of starts? Let’s take a look. Hard Contact, XBA Quality of contact is a great place to start. We mentioned that the earned runs have spiked in the last few starts. For the culprit, look no further than the home run ball. Cabrera has allowed the long ball five times in his last three combined starts, and he has now given up at least one round-tripper in five consecutive starts. For an opposing hitter to get a home run, two factors need to go right: quality of contact and launch angle. The hard contact box is certainly checked off. Cabrera is allowing one of the highest average exit velocities of any pitcher in baseball, at 91.6 mph. That’s in the bottom 6 percent of all pitchers. Not far from exit velocity is its cousin, barrel percentage. Cabrera is getting barreled up 12.9% of the time, which puts him in the bottom 8 percent of pitchers. How about the launch angle? Well, Cabrera is allowing an average launch angle of 12.5 degrees. That’s the second-highest mark of his six-year career, and it’s not missing the watermark he set in 2022 by much, which was 12.7°. Consequently, the righty’s ground ball rate is right around league average at 44.2%. Hitters aren’t just teeing off on Cabrera, but they’re getting optimal launch angles in the process. The Sinker Is Getting Mashed Another way to slice up a hurler’s struggles is to go pitch-by-pitch. We know Edward Cabrera is known for his changeup. It’s his bread and butter, and so far, so good—for the most part. He has an opposing batting average of .241 with that selection. It’s a bit of a spike from his .203 mark a year ago, but this pitch isn’t the main issue. The sinker is yet again looking like his Achilles heel. A year removed from a campaign wherein Cabrera’s sinker was hit at a clip of .370, he’s allowing a .364 opposing batting average. This is far and away the highest of any of the five options in his arsenal. Brighter Skies Ahead? On the bright side, Cabrera still has five options to choose from. Pitchers who have a more limited list of pitches are sometimes stuck with what they have, but Cabrera has the changeup, curveball, sinker, four-seamer and a slider. The changeup is supposed to be one of the most lethal weapons in the game, and I think he can be one of the more impressive righties out there with it. Now it’s just about keeping the ball down and preventing hard contact. View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Now that we're beyond the annual sample-size caveats of April, Kane Kepley is growing impossible to ignore. The team’s No. 7 overall prospect (per North Side Baseball) is off to a very strong start to his 2026 campaign. Let’s dive into his skillset, what he’s been up to lately, and how long we’ll have to wait before he breaks into the major leagues. Kane Kepley’s Background For starters, Kepley was Chicago’s second-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. The Cubs selected the outfield prospect at 56th overall. He was originally a walk-on before topping Conference UCA with 53 walks drawn and 25 stolen bags for Liberty before earning an All-Star nod in the Cape Cod summer baseball league. He then transferred to North Carolina to become a Tar Heel, where he led the ACC in strikeout rate at just 7% and stole 45 bags. Kepley wasted no time getting his licks in at the professional level, as he hit .299 over 28 games at Low-A Myrtle Beach after being drafted last year. The Ideal Contact Hitter In terms of his strengths, the hit tool and speed pop right out at you immediately. It’s what scouts notice, it’s what drew North Carolina in, and ultimately it caught the Cubs’ attention enough for them to pick him late in the second round last year. He’s currently operating with a .298 career batting average, and he already has five triples in just 58 pro contests, now including some time in High-A South Bend, where the 22-year-old started this season. Arguably the most impressive part of his game, to me, is that stinginess that we just mentioned from his college days. It has followed him into the professional ranks, as he’s sporting an on-base percentage just below .500. Building off of that? He has 61 walks to just 35 strikeouts. Any time a prospect can walk as much as they strike out, it’s a great sign. This isn’t even close. He also has 39 stolen bags while only being caught on five occasions In terms of how Kepley is performing in High-A so far, let's start here: He had a game on May 15 where he racked up four hits AND four stolen bases in just one contest. This was his first four-hit game of the season, though likely not his last. I think you’re figuring out pretty quickly why this guy has earned a 60-grade for his hit tool and a 60-grade for his run tool. And that speed translates to him being a strong fielder; Kepley has plenty of range in South Bend’s outfield. Weaknesses In regards to parts of his game that are bringing up the rear, Kepley doesn’t have the strongest arm, but it’s serviceable in center field, and his ability to cover a lot of ground in not a ton of time can compensate for that. His power tool doesn’t have much to it either, since he hasn’t generated a ton of above average exit velocities and is already 22 years of age, but that isn’t really his game. This is someone who can cover ground fast and will use that to impact the game on both offense and defense. MLB ETA When will we see Kane Kepley debut in the major leagues? We’ve brought this situation up before as it pertains to Kevin Alcantara, but with Pete Crow-Armstrong locking down in center field and both Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki in contract years, we’re kind of in a wait-and-see scenario. In terms of Kepley’s overall ability, I wouldn’t be shocked if he gets up there by the final sprint of the 2027 season since he is 22, looks advanced compared to his peers, and does have multiple college baseball seasons under his belt. An outfield featuring him and Crow-Armstrong would be among the fastest and most dynamic in recent history. View full article

The Cubs' seventh-ranked prospect, Kane Kepley, is on an absolute tear to start his 2026 campaign. With wicked speed, a knack for getting favorable jumps on the bases, and an approach that has led to almost double the amount of walks to strikeouts in his pro career, this video breaks down why Kepley could be a fast riser up Chicago's pipeline. View full video

Image courtesy of © Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images The Chicago Cubs are off to a remarkable start to the 2026 season. The team as a whole has put together a pair of 10-game win streaks, and Craig Counsell has done a spectacular job managing this squad. There are also a few players who haven’t been named All-Stars yet that are pushing for the first bids in their career. Nico Hoerner Fresh off of earning a six-year, $141 million extension with the team that drafted him, Nico Hoerner got off to a red-hot start to this year. Chicago’s second baseman has four home runs, 29 runs batted in and holds at least a .260 batting average for the seventh time in eight seasons with the North Siders. Diving a bit further, his hand-eye coordination and approach at the plate have been top-tier. Hoerner’s whiff rate (10.3%) and strikeout rate (7.9%) are both in the 99th percentile among hitters. The 29-year-old’s 8.9% walk rate is a tad below the league average, but it’s higher than his strikeout rate to this point, which is an outrageous accomplishment in 2026. Hoerner’s contact-first approach has earned him plenty of respect to start his big league career, but his defense has made headlines as well. The two-time Gold Glover is in a class of his own, logging seven outs above average through the first few weeks of the season. That mark puts him in the 99th percentile among MLB defenders. The Stanford alum has been as reliable as they come, and the leather-flashing and contact-oriented numbers he’s put up to start the 2026 season have only gotten better with time. Ben Brown Not only is Ben Brown putting together a season worthy of an All-Star nod, but he has the chance to form quite the one-year turnaround story. After producing mixed results in his call-up season (2024), Brown struggled mightily in a variety of ways last season. Producing a 5-8 record with a 5.92 earned run average, up two total runs from his mark the year prior, Brown gave up one of the highest average exit velocities (92.4 mph) in baseball, slotting him in the bottom percentile among all qualified pitchers. While his strikeout (25.6%) and whiff (28.3%) rates lived well above the league average, the hard-throwing righty gave up his fair share of pure contact and routinely ran into trouble. This season, the bullpen arm is sporting a 1-1 record, a 1.60 ERA and added a true third pitch. Just a season after utilizing his fastball/knuckle-curve combination 96% of the time, Brown expanded his arsenal. The 26-year-old reliever has mixed in a sinker, an option that rides up and away from lefties, similarly to his four-seamer. Overall, Brown has kept the ball down much more. After allowing average launch angles of 16.2 and 12.7 degrees in the last two seasons, the 7.2 degree mark has allowed a spike in ground ball rate, and therefore, a .196 batting average against. Brown has been one of the more impactful relievers in baseball and could be in the All-Star conversation if he keeps this pace up into the month of July. Seiya Suzuki Seiya Suzuki rounds out this list after making a strong case for himself just last year. The 31-year-old slugger is fresh off of a remarkable 2025 campaign that saw career-best marks in home runs (32), runs batted in (103) and walks (71). Suzuki is seemingly picking up where he left off last year, as his seven home runs in 31 games has him on another promising pace. The Cubs’ masher is seeing the ball very well, sporting a 42% sweet-spot percentage (93rd percentile) while walking 14% of the time (86th percentile). This has allowed his on-base percentage to explode toward the 400 mark, as the righty is developing a keen eye at the plate while also garnering more respect from opposing pitching. The Arakawa, Japan native has a chance to make this a banner season. He currently sits six home runs shy of 100 for his MLB career, could earn his first big-league contract extension and may even add “All-Star” to his already impressive résumé. View full article

Ben Brown's 2026 numbers are night and day from what we saw last season. He has gone from being one of the hardest hit hurlers in baseball to sporting a sub-2 ERA and keeping hitters off balance. What's his key to newfound productivity this season? We dive into it all in this video. View full video

Image courtesy of © Allan Henry-Imagn Images Kevin Alcántara is, at least superficially, posing a good problem for the Chicago Cubs. He's on a power binge for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs this spring. Let's dig into his numbers, and the choices the Cubs have with him. Background If you've been tracking Alcántara's career closely, you already know what his ceiling looks like, but you also know ho9w stubbornly far beneath it he's remained over the last few years. What was missing, to achieve that metaphorical ascent? A literal one. That's what Alcántara's achieving this spring. He's finally launching the ball. There's no slug on the ground, so he's taken his swing and his batted-ball profile to where there's a ton of it. Season Avg. LA Ground % Line Drive % Fly Ball % Pop Up % Pull % Center % Oppo % 2024 5.3° 51.7 25.3 18.4 4.6 48.3 21.8 29.9 2025 9.5° 46.2 24.9 23.3 6.3 40.3 23.7 36 2026 16.9° 32.8 15.6 39.1 12.5 35.9 39.1 25 Alcántara slugged just over .700 on contact in each of his two previous season stints in Triple-A. This year, that number is a mind-boggling (and, admittedly, unsustainable) 1.078. He's become an elite producer of power, at least at the Triple-A level. There's just one problem, and it's exactly what you'd guess, if you've been tracking Alcántara's career closely. Season O-Swing Z-Swing Z-Contact Whiff Rate 2024 32.1 62 80 31.8 2025 31.7 61.3 82.7 30.5 2026 35.1 61.1 73.6 38.6 To get to his power, Alcántara has sacrificed contact, in a profile that had no room for that tradeoff. He's striking out at a rate that would preclude a player from succeeding in the majors, and he's doing it against worse pitchers than they have in the majors. The implication, then, is that he'd strike out over 40% of the time in the big leagues. That's Brett Jackson territory. Alcántara still has to find the happy medium, where he's lifting the ball but can also control the strike zone and make consistent contact. Still, it's exciting to see just how much power he can generate when things go well. He’s also an absolute ball hawk in the outfield, as his 60-grade fielding tool is the highest on his MLB Pipeline scouting report. So what choices do the Cubs have? Let’s go over them. Promote Alcántara They could promote ‘The Jaguar’, but that comes with some complications. A couple of moves have resulted in a domino effect that makes this guy’s point of entry a little tougher. For one, the team locked down one of the best third basemen in the game, Alex Bregman, for the foreseeable future. That pushes sophomore Matt Shaw into (mostly) a corner outfield role. When Shaw is in right field, Seiya Suzuki takes up the DH spot, and then there’s no room for Alcántara. Of course, Alcántara would be behind Moisés Ballesteros on anyone's DH depth chart, anyway, even if Suzuki weren't in the picture. With Ian Happ, Suzuki, Shaw and Ballesteros all playing reasonably well, there's no short-term path to playing time with the parent club. Have Him Change Positions This is a nice little dream, but not much of a potential reality. Alcántara doesn't have any of the skills to play an infield position other than first base, and all of those spots are locked down, anyway. If he could become a solid first baseman, he would fit neatly with Michael Busch as a platoon partner, but that puts a lot of pressure on him to mash lefties and make more contact. It's also far from a guarantee that he can simply slide to that very different position and be above-average. His best defensive fit could be as a platoon partner for Pete Crow-Armstrong, but Crow-Armstrong is the best defensive center fielder in baseball; you usually don't platoon players with that much value in their glove. Keep Him In Iowa For a Little Longer This is the obvious course of action. Beyond simply keeping their powder dry, letting Alcántara continue amassing playing time in Iowa encourages him to keep developing, and avoids ruffling the feathers of any veterans. Happ and Suzuki are both due to be free agents this fall, and it would be no surprise if both land elsewhere. If even one does, playing time will be available in 2027's Cubs outfield, and if Alcántara keeps fixing holes in his game, he could be a candidate for that job. While the team is healthy, though, keeping him in Iowa lets everyone involved stay in rhythm and play every day, and gives Alcántara time to solve that glaring swing-and-miss problem, if possible. Trade the Surplus The last option is to trade Alcántara. Obviously, it’d be great to have a talent of his caliber at Wrigley, but right now, there's almost no chance he would be better than Happ, Suzuki or even Shaw. Power brings mass appeal in 2026, and this guy has plenty of it. The strikeouts have been an issue, but there are plenty of teams who might give up something to gamble on the power potential in Alcántara's bat, especially given his solid defensive platform. Before dealing him, the team would have to feel some confidence that they could re-sign either Suzuki or Happ, or that Shaw can be a regular in a corner come next season. They can't afford to go spend major free-agent dollars on multiple corner bats this winter, and the class looks thin, anyway. For now, Alcántara is an intriguing, enigmatic piece of the Cubs' organizational puzzle. His prospect stock could still skyrocket or plummet, but at the moment, it's holding in a middle range. The upside has never been more apparent. Neither have the warts ever been more prominently on display. There are a lot of ways to resolve this, but for now, the team's plan seems to be to do the obvious thing: wait and see what comes next, from Alcántara and others. View full article

The Chicago Cubs may have a Kevin Alcantara problem. While it may seem odd to say that about somebody who has paced the International League in home runs, the Cubs essentially have four choices on what to do with their mashing third-ranked prospect. They can promote him, help him transition positions, trade him, or have him ride out some contract situations in Triple-A. View full video