I know I’m not alone when I say that last season was a very unique time to be a Cubs fan. It was the first time in everyone’s lifetime that our beloved Cubs were defending World Series champions (unless you’re like 400 years old and were alive in 1908) and it felt like we were all still celebrating the 2016 championship as the 2017 season got underway.
2017 was also unique because Cubs fans watched the team seemingly alternate wins and losses through the first half of the season and play very mediocre baseball through the first three months of the season. I remember having daily conversations with fellow Cubs fans that always started with, “They’ll snap out of it eventually.”
They never really snapped out of it until early August when they were finally able to pull away from the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs clinched the division on Game 158 of the season which finally put Brewers fans unrealistic optimism six-feet under.
On a personal level, last season was also unique for me because I had to watch one of my favorite Cubs, Kyle Schwarber, struggle MIGHTILY for the first time in his professional career. The same Kyle Schwarber that had every Cubs fan eating out of the palm of his hand during the 2016 postseason turned into a lightning rod of criticism (and rightfully so) for Cubs fans across the nation in 2017.
All the success he had in 2016 was wiped clean last season and the Kyle Schwarber that Cubs fans fell in love with looked completely clueless at the plate. There were whispers of benching the left fielder at the end of May but a bigger bomb was dropped on June 22, 2017 when Schwarber was told he was demoted to AAA Iowa. Some of the biggest Cubs fans I know threw Schwarber under the bus and celebrated the demotion and even took it a step further and demanded that he be traded.
As much as it pained me to accept the demotion, it was even more painful to listen and read baseball idiots proclaim how they thought Schwarber was just an “average, over hyped” player due to his struggles.
2018 hasn’t even started and I’m already dealing with those same idiots online.
Example A.
— Adam Nissen (@nissen54) February 26, 2018
Example B.
— Adam Nissen (@nissen54) February 27, 2018
I fully understand the majority of these people are trolls looking to get a rise out of me but something in me always thinks, “This guy really thinks Schwarber sucks at baseball.”
I won’t lie to you — I’ll always root for Schwarber to be great because I truly believe he is a great player. I also know none of you care what the hell I think so I’ll turn to Theo Epstein to explain the reason the Cubs drafted Schwarber with the fourth pick in the 2014 MLB draft.
“Kyle played baseball with a football mentality,” said Epstein. “He would run through a wall in order to catch a ball. He would attack any obstacle that faced the team.”
The new members of the Cubs coaching staff are witnessing Schwarber’s willingness to “run through a wall” every single day thus far in Spring Training. New coach Will Venable has been working closely with Schwarber in camp to improve his defense and shared some interesting perspective that should get Cubs fans fired up to see the 2018 version of Kyle Schwarber.
“The challenge is to make sure he doesn’t work too much.”
Venable said if the Cubs let him, Schwarber would be out in the field for hours drilling and trying to become a better ballplayer. Nobody is harder on Schwarber than himself and Venable said players like that are great to be around and coach. Schwarber himself acknowledged that he’s seeing the ball well and “everything feels good out there.”
Schwarber knows his place in the outfield isn’t guaranteed with players like Ian Happ, Albert Almora Jr., Ben Zobrist, and Jason Heyward lurking but if he does get beat out for an outfield spot, it damn sure will not be because he didn’t put in the work.
And not that it’ll shock anyone but I’ll say it now — lock Schwarber in as your everyday left fielder.
