Thompson effective for Cubs despite losing control sometimes
With an 0.68 ERA, Cubs reliever Keegan Thompson is on pace to be an all-star candidate.
But there's been an unusual trend to his stat line. In 13⅔ innings pitched, Thompson has given up just 2 hits - but 10 walks. Manager David Ross discussed the situation before Wednesday's game against San Diego.
"I know he doesn't want to walk anybody and I don't want him to either," Ross said. "There's also game-management walks, there is 'lack of focus' walks, there are 'moments I don't have my best stuff' walks. Matchup walks when we don't love the matchup with a base open, we like the one on-deck better, little things like that come into play."
The eighth inning on Tuesday provided a nice case study when Thompson faced the top of the Padres' order, while the Cubs' lead was 2-0. He struck out Fernando Tatis Jr., got Juan Soto on a foul pop-up, then walked both Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts before ending the inning with a Jake Cronenworth fly-out.
Last year, Thompson's walk percentage was 8.9%, but this season it's 19.2%.
"One thing I know about Keegan, he's done a nice job of just navigating the moments where he gets a little bit out of whack and syncing that back up," Ross said. "His walk rate's probably a little high for the command we think he has right now. Hopefully we won't see that trend continue.
"But he's thrown phenomenal for us so I don't want to throw that in a negative light because it's about getting outs."
Crossover kids:
Not many people were in the seats to witness Zach LaVine's first pitch Tuesday at frigid Wrigley Field, but there's a reason the Bulls star chose that game. He's tight with Padres pitcher Blake Snell, because Snell's girlfriend Haeley Mar is the sister of LaVine's wife Hunter. All four all Seattle-area natives.
The friendship spread to Cubs first baseman Eric Hosmer, who played with Snell in San Diego. LaVine and Hosmer both have young sons and the kids have had at least one playdate.
"(LaVine) would come out to San Diego last year, me and Blake were real tight, so that's kind of how we all got introduced to each other," Hosmer said.
Around the horn:
According to San Diego PR, Tuesday's 41-degree gametime temperature made it the seventh-coldest game in Padres history. No. 1 on the list is a 34-degree day at Wrigley in 2011. Temperatures warmed up to 43 by the start of Wednesday's game. ... Some of the Cubs' farm teams played afternoon games Wednesday. Christopher Morel hit his eighth home run of the season as Iowa beat Louisville 9-5. Kyle Hendricks is slated to start for the I-Cubs on Thursday. ... Cubs top-rated prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong was buzzing again, thanks to his 16-pitch at-bat that ended in a grand slam. Crow-Armstrong started 0-2, fouled off four pitches, took a couple of balls in between another foul, fouled off six in a row, then connected with the count 2-2. Jordan Wick threw 5 hitless innings with 7 strikeouts as Double A Tennessee beat Birmingham 9-1.
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