With Four Righty Bats Joining the Cubs Roster, What Happens to David Bote’s Role?

When Kris Bryant, Jose Martinez, Cameron Maybin, and Steven Souza, Jr. enter the Cubs locker room (as soon as today for all four of them), they come as a direct threat to the playing time of David Bote.

Only Bryant directly plays a position that Bote has otherwise occupied, but the sudden addition of four capable righty bats is necessarily going to reduce the time available to a guy who’d otherwise been one of the few regularly-available righties.

The question is: should we be worried about the loss of at bats coming for Bote? Overall this year, Bote is hitting .228/.322/.443 with a 106 wRC+. Since August 12, when Bote has essentially been an everyday player, with the usual sorts of highs and lows that he provides, the line is a still unspectacular .236/.323/.418. There have been these little pockets in Bote’s career where he’s briefly been handed the keys to a consistent role, and he’s not yet delivered enough in those times to warrant starter status.

But when I look at the underlying numbers, when I see the steps forward he’s taking on past weaknesses, I can’t help but view him as one of the Cubs’ best nine options on the majority of days.

Broadly speaking, Bote’s batted ball numbers outpace his results so far. This is a guy in the 93rd percentile of baseball in Exit Velocity, and 92nd in Hart Hit Percentage, but someone who is seeing hits fall in less than they ever have. Even after a nice road trip, Bote’s BABIP is just .260 this year after marks of .333 and .314 in his first two seasons. His exit velocities should give him a number in the three hundreds.

That’s not the problem with Bote, however, never has been. The issue is always the strikeout column, and it’s not one that looks any better this season. I want to see Bote’s recent work, and this chart, and believe some progress is being made. He’s swinging at pitches outside of the zone eight percent less often, he’s making contact on pitches in the zone four percent more often. But honestly, it’s a tiny sample that I can’t in good faith argue means anything substantial just yet.

However, there is one area in the swing-and-miss department that I think we’ve seen a huge advancement in Bote’s game: fastballs. It’s no secret that the book came out on Bote after his hot start in 2018 that you could beat him with high heat. He’s a fantastic low ball hitter – you might recall a certain pitch I’m thinking of – but when he played more often in 2019, it seemed all he faced was an endless barrage of fastballs upstairs. We can all see the strikeouts on those pitches in our minds, can’t we? (Last night, Bert texted me: That’s the Bote hole!)

This is where we see the real change in Bote’s game. If I look only at Gameday zones in the top third of the strike zone and above, using Statcast data, last season Bote whiffed on 34 of 113 high two-strike fastballs he was thrown. A staggering number, and one that made him a fairly easy guy to gameplan against.

Ready for the improvement? In 2020, Bote has missed just 3 of 42 high two-strike fastballs he’s been thrown. Holy. Cow. These charts are against all pitches in all counts (and still a small sample), but look at the difference in expected wOBA in 2019 (top) and 2020 (bottom) on pitches up in the zone:

Query what to make of the reductions down in the zone, but I’d guess that’s part of the development process.

Attacking that hole in his swing is a subtle thing that Bote has changed, but I think it might just be the thing that puts him over the hump of being a worthy mostly-everyday player. Bote pinch hit appearances are generally nothing to complain about, but I’d like to see the 27-year-old continue to get rewarded for the consistent improvements he makes under the hood.

With a big group of righties joining the club this week, we’ll just have to see how David Ross coordinates his players and constructs his lineups. Bote may well merit more time than he actually gets.

written by

Bryan Smith is a Minor League Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @cubprospects.

more cubs news

Wrigley Field is Gonna Be Lit This Year (As in New Colored Lights!)

Last year, the Cubs started using their new LED outfield lights to do a little dancing display during 'Go Cubs Go,' lighting along with the song and throwing in a W. It was very fun and I liked it. This...

The 2024 Chicago Cubs for Dummies

Boom. We made it. The offseason is over, and the Cubs regular season - and those elevated expectations - begins tomorrow. But in case you slept through the winter, I'm here to catch you up on everything you need to...

Why Craig Counsell Wanted Miles Mastrobuoni on the Cubs’ Bench

I don't know why Miles Mastrobuoni bugs some folks, but it's probably heavily-weighted toward his small-sample, bad-batted-ball-luck start last year, and that time he didn't dive while playing in right field. It can be hard to shake initial impressions, I...

Kinda Sounds Like Craig Counsell May Have a Set Top Three in the Batting Order

New Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell has said, generally, his batting order philosophy is the very simplistic (and very correct): just get your best hitters the most at bats. Sure, there's some play in that to set up good match-ups,...

Los Angeles Dodgers Signing Will Smith to a TEN-YEAR Extension

The Los Angeles Dodgers have done it again. And by it, I mean they have signed a funkily-structured contract that is going to leave some folks annoyed. The Dodgers are extending catcher Will Smith on a DECADE-long deal with a...

The Stretch: 2024 MLB Season Preview

On Monday, during a team-building conversation with some of the Bleacher Nation and Betsperts Media Group folks, we discussed sports—shocking, I know—and Brian Twining asked the group what their favorite sport was. For me, it's baseball. There's no debate. I...

We Have to Talk About Some of the “Deals” the Cubs Sat Out in Free Agency

This week, in a conversation with Jon Greenberg at The Athletic, Cubs President Jed Hoyer made an honest and sober (but also moderately disappointing) admission about the 2024 Chicago Cubs: "We need to perform probably at or a little bit...

The Chicago Cubs Are Reportedly Now Worth Over $5 Billion

Given all the tumult in the baseball broadcasting world, and the uncertain future for that portion of revenues, you'd be forgiven for expecting that MLB franchise valuations would slow their recent surge. But, according to Sportico at least, you'd be...

Reds Second Baseman Matt McLain Had Shoulder Surgery

The injury to Matt McLain's shoulder issue obviously wound up being worse than he and the Cincinnati Reds had been hoping. The damage to his left (non-throwing) labrum ultimately required surgery: https://twitter.com/m_sheldon/status/1772993402604339478 When the hope is that a guy can...

Cubs Actually Getting a Whole Lot of Votes to Win the NL Central

ESPN dropped its big season preview, and included were a set of divisional predictions by way of their writers, editors, and analysts voting. There's nothing in the way of proof or certainty there, but with 26 voters, I do like...

Latest News

Orioles vs. Angels Prediction: Expert Picks, Odds, Stats & Best Bets – Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Baltimore Orioles begin their season as -192 favorites in a home tilt against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday at 3:05 PM ET, live on BSW.Baltimore's Corbin Burnes and Los Angeles' Patrick Sandoval have been named the starters for...

Wyoming vs South Dakota Women’s College Basketball Odds and Prediction – March 29

The South Dakota Coyotes (23-12) will try to break a three-game road losing streak when they square off against the Wyoming Cowgirls (17-14) on March 29, 2024 at Arena-Auditorium.Wyoming vs. South Dakota NCAA Game InfoDate: Friday, March 29, 2024Time: 8:30...

Minnesota vs North Dakota State Women’s College Basketball Odds and Prediction – March 29

The Minnesota Golden Gophers (17-15) face the North Dakota State Bison (22-11) on March 29, 2024.Minnesota vs. North Dakota State NCAA Game InfoDate: Friday, March 29, 2024Time: 8:00 PM ETWhere: Minneapolis, MinnesotaVenue: Williams ArenaLast Game For Each TeamMinnesota enters this...

Rays vs. Blue Jays Probable Starting Pitchers – March 28

The Tampa Bay Rays (0-0) and the Toronto Blue Jays (0-0) face off on Thursday at Tropicana Field for Opening Day. First pitch is at 4:10 PM ET.The Rays will call on Zach Eflin versus the Blue Jays and Jose...

Dodgers vs. Cardinals Probable Starting Pitchers – March 28

The Los Angeles Dodgers (1-1) and the St. Louis Cardinals (0-0) face off at Dodger Stadium on Thursday at 4:10 PM ET, starting a four-game series.The Dodgers will look to Tyler Glasnow versus the Cardinals and Miles Mikolas.Dodgers vs. Cardinals...

Padres vs. Giants Probable Starting Pitchers – March 28

The San Francisco Giants (0-0) begin a four-game series against the San Diego Padres (1-1) on Thursday at PETCO Park. First pitch is at 4:10 PM.The Padres will look to Yu Darvish versus the Giants and Logan Webb.Padres vs. Giants...

Astros vs. Yankees Probable Starting Pitchers – March 28

The Houston Astros (0-0) and the New York Yankees (0-0) face off on Thursday at Minute Maid Park for Opening Day. First pitch is at 4:10 PM ET.The Astros will call on Framber Valdez against the Yankees and Nestor Cortes...

Reds vs. Nationals Probable Starting Pitchers – March 28

The Cincinnati Reds (0-0) and the Washington Nationals (0-0) face off on Thursday at Great American Ball Park for Opening Day. First pitch is at 4:10 PM ET.The Reds will call on Frankie Montas against the Nationals and Josiah Gray.Reds...

Marlins vs. Pirates Probable Starting Pitchers – March 28

The Miami Marlins (0-0) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (0-0) match up on Thursday at LoanDepot park for Opening Day. First pitch is at 4:10 PM ET.The Marlins will look to Jesus Luzardo versus the Pirates and Mitch Keller.Marlins vs. Pirates...

Twins vs. Royals Probable Starting Pitchers – March 28

The Kansas City Royals (0-0) host the Minnesota Twins (0-0) in an Opening Day contest at 4:10 PM ET on Thursday.The Twins will call on Pablo Lopez versus the Royals and Cole Ragans.Twins vs. Royals Pitcher Matchup and Game InfoWhen:...

more cubs news