CLEVELAND — If the Chicago Cubs are going to get on the type of roll that has eluded them too often this season, now is the time to continue stacking wins.
The Cubs entered Tuesday having won 10 of their last 15 games, tied for the fourth-best record in MLB since July 27 behind Arizona (13-3, .813 winning percentage), San Diego (11-3, .786), San Francisco (11-5, .688) and tied with the Yankees (10-5, .667).
“It’s been fun to see us play a little better baseball here of late,” general manager Carter Hawkins said Tuesday. “Guys are grinding and you see the bullpen start to find some consistency, and the lineup linking that a little bit and playing some solid defense, it’s no surprise that we put some wins together. We’ll look to continue to do that through August and September.”
During this recent stretch, the Cubs have seen an uptick in offensive consistency, something president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said after the trade deadline must emerge as the team is evaluated over the final weeks of the season.
The Cubs are hitting .268 (ninth in MLB), with a .474 slugging percentage (fifth), an .803 OPS (sixth) and they are sixth in the majors with 5.80 runs per game over the last 2 1/2 weeks.
“It’s really been encouraging to see them put more runs on the board,” Hawkins said. “Obviously we had to improve off of what we’ve done the last several months and we felt like the talent was there. So it’s nice to kind of confirm that it’s still in there, and it’s just a matter of getting it out of them and then getting it out of them over the course of a six-month season next year and over the last couple months here.”
Prospect injury updates
Injuries are always concerning on some level, but the impact it can have on a player’s development can potentially affect their progression the following year.
That’s part of what makes right-hander Cade Horton’s injury and subsequent time missed particularly challenging. Horton, the Cubs’ top prospect, hasn’t pitched since May 29 because of a subscapularis strain in his shoulder. He is unlikely to pitch again this season because of a setback after feeling pain in that same area while ramping up his throwing progression.
“At this point of the year and this point of his career, it’s not something that we wanted to push,” Hawkins said. “Feel confident he will be ready to rock and roll come spring training and certainly be part of our plans for next year. It just felt like pushing for this year wasn’t the smartest thing for where he is.”
Horton will be in consideration to pitch in the Arizona Fall League with Hawkins calling it “not out of the question,” but the ramp-up and ramp-down process and its impact on how he would build up again before spring training will be part of the conversation.
Horton, 22, could have potentially been a late-season option to help in the major-league bullpen had he not lost nearly three months to injury. The hope is Horton’s injury hasn’t affected his development too significantly on a big-picture level, though Hawkins acknowledged the lost innings and missed chance to possibly gain big-league experience this year is “an opportunity that he’s not going to get so we’ve got to make up for it somewhere else.”
“Obviously, it’s impossible to recreate major-league games without major-league games, so we can’t make up for that,” Hawkins said. “But we’re just trying to build him up as best we can for spring training and getting some chances there. He’s going to have to be a part of our plans because he has such good stuff and such good ability.”
Outfielder Brennen Davis remains in Arizona attempting to get back on the field as he recovers from his latest back injury. Davis, who turns 25 in November, has been out since June 11 with a back fracture. He is likely out for the rest of the season, Hawkins said. Davis missed most of the 2022 season because of back surgery and was limited to 62 games with Triple-A Iowa last year due to core muscle surgery. Davis hit 10 home runs in 36 games this season at Iowa.
Davis has been limited to 157 games at Triple A since the start of the 2021 season.
“Obviously it’s been a struggle for Brennen, a lot of ups and downs that when he’s played, he’s performed, just hasn’t been able to get on the field,” Hawkins said. “Until he is really able to get back on the field and playing baseball it’s going to be really hard to factor him into our plans moving forward, but the talent is definitely there and it’s not for lack of effort on his part.”
Outfielder Alexander Canario (right hamstring strain) will likely return from the Triple-A injured list before the end of the season.
