Schwarber Needs To Go
David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune wrote an article yesterday explaining why Schwarber, in his words, “must stop leading off.” He points out that as of Monday, Schwarber is batting a measly .193 and owns the major leagues’ lowest batting average among leadoff hitters with at least 100 plate appearances. He also sports a putrid .313 on-base percentage with 44 strikeouts.
Numbers don’t lie.
He argues that Schwarber is pressing at the plate and his body language just “screams help” and takes it a step further and suggests that the Cubs may want to think about demoting Schwarber to AAA Iowa if the slump continues. Demoting “superstar” players in Haugh’s eyes is not as uncommon as you would think and mentions names like Mike Moustakas and Yasiel Puig as players who were sent down to AAA to make some adjustments.
So what’s the solution if it’s not Schwarber?
The obvious names of Jon Jay and Albert Almora Jr. are mentioned, as well as Ben Zobrist and the wild card name, Jason Heyward. Haugh claims the only reason action has not been taken yet is simply due to the fact of Kyle Schwarber’s popularity and his role during the post season last year,
“if a young Cubs outfielder with 106 games of major-league experience and a career .219 batting average were named Jack Jones, his present shortcomings would outweigh any past success and demand action.”
I can’t say I’d disagree with that statement either.
