It’s funny to think about the fact that about a month ago, baseball experts started to question if Willson Contreras was actually going to live up to all the hype in 2018. He lacked eye popping numbers through the month of April and didn’t get his first home run until the 20th game of the season, so the man that many people (including myself) picked to have an MVP season, was slumping mightily.
Until now.
Contreras went bat shit crazy today all over the Chicago White Sox and their little league pitching as the Cubs beat the White Sox 11-2. Willy finished the day 4-5 with two doubles, two home runs, two runs, seven RBIs, and 12 (yes, 12) total bases. He’s just the fourth NL player since 1920 to have multiple doubles and multiple home runs AND seven or more RBIs in a game.
Here are four of his seven RBIs.
Hello.
My name is Willson Contreras.
You hit my friend Kris.
Prepare to fly. pic.twitter.com/yX4vqkI8Sb— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 11, 2018
While the numbers speak for themselves, what’s even more impressive is the fact that Willy put up those numbers as a catcher. Historically, catchers have only really been asked to manage the team’s pitching staff and nothing was really expected in terms of offensive output. In my lifetime, I can think of a handful of catchers who were able to consistently put up solid offensive numbers through their career and while I’ll be the first to admit that Contreras has a LONG way to go, Cubs fans have to be excited about his sky high potential.
Contreras’ offensive explosion today put him in a very select group of catchers that have pulled off similar games in their careers.
.@WContreras40 is 1 of 3 catchers ever to have 4 XBH and 7 RBI in a game (@mikepiazza31, 8/27/95; George Mitterwald, 4/17/74). pic.twitter.com/Nbjaa3Pz4Q
— MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) May 11, 2018
I won’t waste time arguing if Willy had a better game than Piazza or Mitterwald because it’d be about as logical as the Michael vs. LeBron argument. Quality of pitching was different, metrics weren’t available in the 70s, and I’m sure Piazza was juicing so let’s just all agree Willy had himself a goddamn day.
Sure, it’s only one game but if you look at what Contreras has done in the last week or so of baseball, it’s nothing short of amazing. Per Michael Cerami, in his last four games, Willy has hit for the cycle TWICE and has a 121 wRC+ which trails only Buster Posey (124 wRC+) and has raised his OPS 162 points in only two games.
Safe to say that Willson has gotten hot at the right time.
