Cubs Willson Contreras Unfair Comparison to Kyle Schwarber
By David Dickey
When Schwarber permanently moved to left field at the onset of a four game series at home against the Giants in early August, it proved to be the factor that enabled the Cubs to sweep that series (growing a 0.5 game lead to 4.5, which would later balloon to 13 by season’s end), and go on to finish 38-16 from that series onwards.
The move allowed them to keep their new big bat in play, retain the veteran catching work of Miguel Montero and David Ross, shift Addison Russell’s gold glove caliber play to shortstop, and light a fire under the benched Starlin Castro when Chris Coghlan was shifted from left field to second base. With both his raw production, and the domino effects his willingness to be moved to the outfield produced, Kyle Schwarber made the Cubs 2015 season what it ultimately proved to be.
The Cubs do not expect, nor do they require, that sort of impact from Contreras. When he was called up (on June 17th) the Cubs were on pace to win 112 games, and sat 10.5 ahead of St. Louis for the division lead. They have a more mature Bryant and Rizzo leading their offense, a lineup that is immensely deeper than last year’s, and a team that is all around significantly more balanced, poised, and dominant. There is no doubt that the Cubs would love to see Contreras take the reins behind the plate, both because it is where his future lies, and also due to the relative offensive struggles of the Cubs current catching brass.
In the more immediate future they will certainly hope that he can provide an offensive spark at a time when Rizzo is less than one hundred percent, Fowler (not to mention Tommy La Stella and Jorge Soler) is on the DL, Ben Zobrist is going through a major slump, and Jason Heyward continues to leave everyone waiting for the presumed sustained breakout that never seems to come. But it is not paramount to their success, nor will a failure on his part lead to a diminished chance of them going where they want to go this fall.
Willson Contreras is a wonderful story. He is a testament to the undeniable improvement within the Cubs player development system during the Theo Epstein era. He’s going to be a core member of a team that figures to be one of the best in baseball for the next several years, and at a prime position no less.
But he is not Kyle Schwarber. Willson Contreras is his own player, and his own person, with his own story; a story which we should appreciate and admire for what it is, rather than for what it is not. To do anything less, especially making convenient but ultimately inaccurate comparisons to that with which we are already familiar, would be a disservice to him and to us all.