As expected, Cubs' Kyle Schwarber to split time between catcher, left field
The Cubs will attempt to continue Schwarber's development as a catcher without taking his bat out of the lineup.
By
Matt Snyder
•
2 min read
Cubs youngster Kyle Schwarber presented the Cubs with a nice little dilemma after his stellar rookie (half) season.
On one hand, he's such a good hitter that it would be ridiculous to leave him in the minors. On the other, his game behind the plate as a catcher -- his drafted position -- isn't up to speed with what the Cubs' pitching staff needs on a daily basis through the 2016 season.
So do the Cubs just tell Schwarber to learn left field or do they continue to try and develop him as an MLB-caliber backstop?
It'll be both this season.
"I'm trying to get better at two positions," Schwarber said to Cubs.com. "Anything can happen, just like last year, anything happened -- [Miguel Montero] got hurt and I got called up to come catch. If anything happens like that, I have to be ready. I'm still going to prepare like I'm a catcher and still try to get better in the outfield."
Cubs president Theo Epstein also discussed the matter on MLB Network Radio (as transcribed by chicagocubsonline.com):
"We knew his bat would come quickly, maybe not as quickly as it did, but we knew it would come quickly. The issue for him was always going to be position and would we have the patience to allow him to develop as a catcher when the bat was so good and so Major League ready would he transition full-time to the outfield to get his bat in the lineup every day? We’ve ended up taking a hybrid approach with him where he’s come into camp he’s going to play a lot of left field but we’re not giving up behind the plate because he’s working extremely hard there and shows some signs of being able to develop, even if it’s at the big league level, which is a tough place to develop as a catcher. Just unbelievable makeup kid. A team first player who’s got special, special recognition skills in the box, special rhythm and sense of timing in the box, barrel to ball skills are incredible and tremendous power not just to the pull side but all over the ballpark."
Schwarber last season started 38 games in the outfield and 15 behind the plate during the regular season (in addition to six at DH). The hunch here is that he starts almost every road interleague game at DH, 1-2 starts behind the plate per week and the rest in left field. That is, of course, barring injury to either Miguel Montero or David Ross (or, heaven forbid, both) or Schwarber simply being too far over his head behind the plate to justify the experiment continuing.
In 136 innings behind the plate last season, Schwarber allowed two passed balls and threw out three of the 17 attempted basestealers (18 percent compard to a league average of 28 percent).
