The Chicago Cubs have one of the best offenses in Major League Baseball right now, and while their numbers are boosted a bit by already having more games under their belt than every other team not named the Los Angeles Dodgers, their average of 4.17 runs per game is inside the top 10.
Offense has been an issue for this team the past couple of years, but after adding Kyle Tucker to the lineup and getting good starts from Dansby Swanson and Miguel Amaya, perhaps this is the season where they provide enough run support to mask their pitching issues.
An offensive renaissance from Swanson would be a welcome sight for the Cubs.
While he’s always going to provide elite defense, getting average to below average production at the plate from their starting shortstop is hard to overcome.
But so far, Swanson has slashed .227/.292/.409 with a homer and two RBI across his first six games entering Monday, suggesting he might be turning the corner.
However, is it him or is it his bat?
The baseball world was overwhelmed with the new “torpedo bats” that jumped into the spotlight after the New York Yankees clobbered the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend, hitting 15 homers to tie the Major League record for most ever in the first three games of a campaign.
For those unaware, the reshaped bat puts more of the wood into the barrel area where the ball should be hit, and it’s supposed to create greater results for offensive players when they make contact.
For the Yankees, that was the case, and it started a massive argument about these bats.
New York isn’t the only ones using them, though, as both Swanson and Nico Hoerner have a version they’ve been swinging this year.
Chicago has been at the forefront of technology under Jed Hoyer’s leadership, so it’s no surprise that some of the players on the team would be using the torpedo bat as an early adopter.
In fact, Cody Bellinger said he tried out the bat last year when he was with the Cubs.
“We were all kind of looking at this bat, and we were like, ‘Hmm, what is this thing?’ It’s so unique. I think there has been some more success with it and maybe some more advancements [since last year],” he said, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
Bellinger didn’t use it in a game, though, just during batting practice.
However, now that he’s in New York, he has made the switch to using it full time.
This entire situation is an interesting one to monitor and follow.
What the Yankees did against the Brewers put everything into the spotlight even though players in Chicago were testing them out last season and have also used them this year.
So far, the bats have been a major boost for New York, and since they are legal, it will be fascinating to see how Swanson and Hoerner perform — both career average hitters — and if other Cubs players follow suit.
