Cubs Willson Contreras Unfair Comparison to Kyle Schwarber

Willson Contreras has drawn comparisons to another Cubs slugger in the injured Kyle Schwarber. That comparison is unfair to Contreras.

On Friday night, Willson Contreras continued to bolster both his resume and his rapidly growing legend in Chicago by almost single handedly breaking the Cubs season-high four game losing streak. After blasting a two run homer, his third of the season, in his first at-bat–during what proved to be a four run first inning outburst from the Cubs—Contreras later came up with a tie-breaking knock in the seventh, putting his team ahead once more, this time for good.

It was Contreras’ first multi-hit game, but hardly his first big moment in a Cubs uniform. He introduced himself to the baseball world this past weekend by blasting the first pitch of his career into the fan-filled right-centerfield bleachers during a pinch hit appearance late in a nationally broadcast Sunday night game against the Pirates. He’s since grown his inaugural hit streak to six games and counting.

A catcher by trade, but a competitor by mold, he’s found himself playing first during the first two games of a four game set against the Marlins while Anthony Rizzo rests a stiff back. At twenty-four years old, armed with an amicable personality, a genuine passion for the game, and a desire to contribute in whatever manner required by the moment, he has endeared himself to teammates, the similarly fresh faced and the grizzled variety alike.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon has been thorough with his praise of the latest young Cubs phenom, pointing to a maturity that belies Contreras’ age. Following Friday night’s win the Cubs skipper said of Contreras’ early impact, “It’s like oxygen….It’s absolutely necessary, the life he’s brought to the group. He has been a catalyst the last several days.” Teammate Ben Zobrist added praise of the Cubs latest young star saying, “I know around here it’s kind of something everyone expects — how well these young guys play — but what he’s done his first week has been nothing short of amazing,”

With the 21st-century social media sports culture being what it is the inevitability of the comparisons to Kyle Schwarber’s impact on the 2015 Cubs season have been accelerated. After all, when was the last time consecutive seasons produced games that became known by a player’s name? (“The Kyle Schwarber game,” and “The Willson Contreras game”).

While the comparisons are surely premature they are also inaccurate, but for reasons that go beyond the seemingly easily identifiable similarities. For, while Kyle Schwarber’s mid-season emergence and subsequent display of prolific power catapulted him to a most a most deservingly revered status in Chicago, the circumstances surrounding Contreras, even if his play does end up comparing favorably with that of Schwarber’s, are entirely different.

Next: The differences