It has been an unfortunately forgettable year for Rafael Ortega, who was such a nice story last year, and was actually solid for long stretches this season, too. Overall, though, he’s been a below-average bat, and I’m not sure it’s going to be enough to keep him on the Cubs roster heading into next season.
In the meantime, though, he’s still trying to do his thing, homering tonight against the Mets to give the Cubs an early lead:
The next inning, it was Zach McKinstry, whose rough season we discussed this morning, getting into it with a homer of his own:
Like the Cubs tweet suggests, McKinstry had the single, double, and triple last night, and now he’s got the homer. I’m gonna call it the 24-hour cycle.
That homer also brings up his season slash line to .198/.264/.356/73 wRC+, which is four points higher than Nick Madrigal’s mark on the season, if you wanted context.