We talked yesterday about how Chicago Cubs pitchers are leading baseball in the thing they’re primarily responsible for doing – you know, pitching – but now I want to have a little fun with that other thing they’re doing.
Jason Hammel pitched well enough to win last night, but it was his own bat that supplied the two runs necessary to actually win. The day before, John Lackey drove in a run with his bat, too. The day before, in their loss to the Rockies, Jon Lester was just about all the offense the Cubs could muster. Earlier this year, Jake Arrieta hit one of the furthest homers of the year.
In short, so far this year – which is a euphemism for COMICALLY SMALL SAMPLE SIZE – the Cubs’ pitchers have been hitting really well.[adinserter block=”1″]
How well?
Their 84 wRC+ leads baseball by a sizable gap over the second place team (Pirates, 67), and there are only five other teams (out of the 17 that’ve seen their pitchers get at bats) with positive wRC+.
Cubs pitchers’ .226/.273/.387 slash line would fit right in with the guys who catch their pitches – taken together around baseball, catchers currently have a .230/.302/.352 slash line.
Who needs the DH: Cubs pitchers actually have a higher batting average (.226) than all DH at bats combined (.221)!
Cubs pitchers have driven in 7 runs in 34 plate appearances. Carlos Gomez, Adam Lind, Pedro Alvarez, Devin Mesoraco, Travis d’Arnaud, Anthony Rendon, Logan Morrison, and Billy Burns have driven in 6 runs, combined, in 322 plate appearances.
Cubs pitchers have created 3.2 runs above replacement level with their bats, alone. That’s better than the following entire teams: Brewers, Angels, A’s, Rays, Phillies, Braves. It’s just shy of the 3.5 mark for the White Sox.
Cubs pitchers’ 84 wRC+ is better than all of those teams, including the White Sox, plus the Padres.[adinserter block=”2″]