Bad day for Cubs at 3B capped by Smith’s 2-homer game
Is it too soon for Cubs regrets?
While they shuffled through four third basemen on Friday, Cam Smith hit a pair of home runs for the Houston Astros.
Smith, the Cubs' first round pick in 2024, got off to a bit of a slow start but is now hitting .224 with 3 homers and 10 RBI. Keep in mind, he's playing right field for the Astros, while another former Cubs, Isaac Paredes is at third base.
Could they, should they have traded Matt Shaw to Houston in the Kyle Tucker trade instead of Smith? Well, it's too late now and too soon to know. Shaw went back to Iowa after hitting .172 with 1 home run in his first 18 big-league games.
Meanwhile, manager Craig Counsell went back to veteran Jon Berti as the starter at third base Saturday, after Vidal Brujan made an error and Gage Workman had an untimely defensive gaffe that wasn't called an error in Friday's win over Arizona.
“This is our third base situation and it's best served right now in a sharing-the-job situation, so that's how we're going to look at it,” Counsell said. “We're obviously going to have to continue to evaluate that position. We don't have an everyday answer.”
While we're at it, another potential regret is Matt Mervis hitting 6 home runs in his first 15 games for the Marlins. The Cubs gave Mervis a couple of short big-league tryouts before handing the job to Michael Busch. Mervis was traded for Brujan in the offseason.
The Cubs have no complaints at all with Busch, who ranked 18th in MLB in OPS before hitting home run No. 5 on Saturday. Except the Cubs gave up a lot to get him. The two players in that deal — left-hander Jackson Ferris and outfielder Zyhir Hope — are ranked the Dodgers' Nos. 4 and 6 prospects, respectively, and both are off to great starts in the minors this season.
Small step for Shaw:
The best solution to the Cubs' third base quandary would be Matt Shaw coming back in a few weeks as a successful hitter. Manager Craig Counsell talked about one key to success.
“Failure gets you to all your best places, for sure,” Counsell said “The most important thing in hitting is being on time. You've heard this before, however you start, are you getting to a hitting position on time?
“The hitters that have success the most, they're on time. It gives your swing room for error, if that makes sense, and your body room for error. But if you're not on time, you don't ave that room for error. That is one thing Matt needs to and wants to clean up a little bit.”
Even before the season began, there was concern about Shaw's long, slow front step. He starts his stance with his front foot on its toes, which is unusual in itself. Then he takes a slow, looping step with his front foot moving toward the plate.
Carson's city:
Cubs catcher Carson Kelly is outslugging Aaron Judge, and everyone else in MLB, so far this season. After playing in 11 games, he's got a 1.097 slugging percentage and 1.75 OPS.
Where did this come from? Kelly's best year as a hitter was actually his first as a full-time player, with Arizona in 2019. He hit a career-high 18 home runs with an .826 OPS. His numbers slid during the ensuing seasons.
“I made a lot of adjustments going into last year with Detroit,” Kelly said. “Made a lot of adjustments, swing changes, kind of just being vulnerable and trying a bunch of different things. Last year was really finding what worked and what can be consistent and this past offseason was just refining that.”
The Portland, Oregon, native was a second-round pick of St. Louis out of high school in 2012.