Chicago Cubs: Grading spring training performances for 3 key players

The Chicago Cubs are in a prime position for a postseason run this year. They have spent a sizable amount of money in the offseason and have been hard at work developing their young talent this spring. With that in mind, let’s check in on three key players’ spring performances.

Chicago Cubs: Matt Mervis could be ROY

Matt Mervis, appropriately nicknamed Mash, is back from the World Baseball Classic, where he played for Israel. Mervis has been on the lips of every Cubs fan after his impressive 2022 minor league dominance. He hit .309 with a .379 on-base percentage and .606 slugging percentage (.984 OPS), 36 homers, 40 doubles, and 119 RBI across three minor league levels.

After an abysmal .077 average hitting for Israel, Mervis commented on his play, “It shows that I still have a lot of work to do. I thought I had some good at-bats but also didn’t have great success. So it was a learning experience, for sure. And I got to work with some great coaches and other players. But I also realized that if I’m going to play every day at the big-league level like I want to, then I have things I need to work on.”

Mervis returned to the Cubs to start at first base against the Los Angeles Dodgers and he bounced right back, going 3-for-4 with a well-placed double. Despite the fans’ anticipation and the play of Mervis, the Cubs added Eric Hosmer and Trey Mancini this offseason to play first, so we likely won’t see him in the show to start the season. Nevertheless, his spring performance warrants a B.

Chicago Cubs ace Justin Steele

Justin Steele is hitting his prime this season at 27 years old. He had a quality performance last year, holding batters to a .244 average with 126 strikeouts and a 3.18 ERA. However, what’s more impressive is what he did in his post-All-Star break outings. Steele pitched an astounding 0.98 ERA with 47 strikeouts in the last half of the season.

This spring, he was experiencing some arm fatigue which caused him to get a late start, but he has made up for it since then. In his two starts entering Sunday, he’s only pitched 4.2 innings but struck out four batters in last Tuesday’s outing. Steele spoke about his upcoming season after that outing, “Coming into this year, it’s a little bit different. I got a year under my belt last year and was able to build off some success in the second half, so it’s definitely been a completely different spring for me as far as that stuff goes.”

He looks to leap forward this year and become a Cubs All-Star, and he is out of minor league options, so it is assured he will be in the rotation on Opening Day. He may even be in the mix for the ace position over Marcus Stroman.

Grading Justin Steele’s spring performance, he gets a B-minus.

Dansby Swanson, Chicago’s biggest offseason acquisition

The Chicago Cubs made a significant offseason acquisition, signing Atlanta Braves star Dansby Swanson. The Cubs hoped Swanson could bring his .277 average and 99 runs scored to Wrigley, but he has been extremely disappointing this spring. It is hard to say if it’s a spring overreaction or a case of the big contract lull, but Swanson was hitting just .080 in his first 25 at-bats.

I’m sure he is just knocking off some offseason rust and warming up for Opening Day, and there is no reason to panic just yet. However, grading his spring training performance, Swanson gets a D-minus.

The Cubs should be contenders if…

The Cubs have stated their plan for 2023 is a focus on pitching and defense. They have made the moves to put run prevention in place as they enter the season trying to stifle the Cardinals and Brewers’ postseason hopes. If Swanson can be an All-Star, Steele becomes the ace, and Mervis makes a run at ROY, the Cubs will be doing great. Only time will tell how the NL Central will sort out, but as always, many in the baseball world will be pulling for the Cubbies.