The Cubs have benefitted from an aggressive plate approach. | Griffin Quinn/Getty Images
Griffin Quinn/Getty
When asked about third baseman Christopher Morel’s plate approach, manager Craig Counsell brought up the Texas Rangers as an example.
“You see it with the Rangers and how they approach offense,” Counsell said. “The league is always a pendulum with offense and pitching. There’s a big portion of the league that’s ‘Just get to two strikes,’ from the pitcher’s perspective. One way to counteract that — if the pitchers are going to be in the zone early — is to be super aggressive early.”
Morel — and, by extension, the Cubs lineup — have taken to the Rangers’ approach to improving an offense that scored the sixth-most runs in baseball (819 runs) last season.
The Cubs have succeeded on offense by engineering long at-bats. The Cubs rarely chase on pitches outside of the zone (20.5%) and swing at the highest percentage of pitches in the zone (69.9%) entering Saturday’s game.
The offense is producing while second baseman Nico Hoerner and center fielder Cody Bellinger are struggling to begin the season. Hoerner is hitting lower in the lineup under Counsell, but the manager doesn’t believe where a player hits matters as much as putting together a quality at-bat.
“Offenses are good ultimately because you string together good at-bats from all nine positions in the lineup,” Counsell said. “One guy is going to hit a line drive out or swing at a bad pitch and other guys are going to pick each other up.”
One way for the lineup to improve was through internal development and unlocking Morel.
“I got to give the credit to the coaches there,” Morel said of the offense’s strong start. “We’ve gone out there and do what we do. We have a lot of trust in each other.”
Counsell said he sees similarities between Morel and Seager at the plate.
Morel is swinging at first pitches 46.7% of the time, while Seager swings at first pitches 60.9%. Both hitters are also above the league average in the percentage of swings they take in the strike zone.
“That’s how Corey Seager hits,” Counsell said. “In a little snippet here, that’s what you’re seeing with Christopher.”
Wicks’ learning curve
Facing the Dodgers was another development step for left-hander Jordan Wicks. He learned from his previous outing against the Rangers and pitched 4 ⅔ shutout innings in Saturday’s game against the Dodgers.
Wicks used his slider — which he developed during the offseason — on Saturday often because he said his changeup didn’t feel right. His slider gives him another option in his arsenal.
“It’s nice when you work on things like that in the offseason,” Wicks said. “it gives you the ability to pivot to something like that in a big game like this.”
Wicks was able to learn how to persevere against a championship contender.
“Everybody knows me for my fastball and changeup,” Wicks. “You have days like this every now and then where it’s not exactly where you want it to be. Being able to pivot to plan b and c is huge because it allows you to get through some jams.”
Injury update
Third baseman Patrick Wisdom began his rehab at Triple-A Iowa on Saturday, according to Cubs PR.
Wisdom’s back stiffened up in spring training after it sidelined him for a week.