THE NOT SO OBVIOUS FROM THE 5th GAME OF SPRING TRAINING

It is pretty easy to report that The Cubs lost 7-5 to the Los Angeles Angels in the Cubs 5th Spring Training game. I could also highlight that Addison Russell hit his second home run in as many days. See how easy that was? But after watching the replay on MLB Network, I want to share a few things that likely isn’t getting reported.

LONG RELIEF

It was interesting that Brian Duensing went two full innings, especially since he is slated to be a reliever. Even the guys scheduled to start, like Brett Anderson and Mike Montgomery, haven’t gone two innings in this first week of games. Now it could mean nothing…. or maybe Duensing is being slated to be that long guy to eat up innings in those games when things don’t really seem to be going well.

Watching the replay, he seemed to really be hitting his spots. If that baseball phrase is new to you let me give you a short description. All it means is that when the catcher puts up his glove for a target, the catcher doesn’t have to move his glove to catch the pitch. Victor Caratini didn’t have to move his glove much and showed pretty quiet hands catching Duensing. The hits Duensing did give up weren’t exactly rockets. While you are watching this Spring keep an eye on that catcher’s target, that might be a better indicator than what the box score says.

QUALITY AT BATS

It has been mentioned that results are NOT the primary purpose of Spring Training games, specifically the early ones. Players are focusing on their skills as much as actually trying to obtain results. Anthony Rizzo had two quality plate appearances that resulted in base on balls. Another great plate appearance was by Ian Happ. His at bat in the 8th inning was very impressive. He really battled, fouling off several pitches before lining a rope into right field. Even if that at bat didn’t result in a single, it was still a quality at bat.

Not taking anything away from Taylor Davis or Matt Szczur, but both of their rbi hits were fortunate outcomes. But hey that’s baseball. Davis did his job and hit a ground ball with the infield drawn in. So is that good situational hitting? or just a seeing eye single? Szczur’s triple, looked to me more like a misplayed fly ball, but again hey that’s baseball. While you are watching these games, heck even all season long, pay attention to how the batter battles through the at bat. The Cubs had 7 hits and 6 walks, but there were also several other good quality at bats.

BASE RUNNING

There were several base running blunders in this game. I’ll start with the Angels Matt Williams. Caratini made a great play by jumping out from behind home plate and fielding a ball that Williams hit only about one foot. Williams thought it was foul and didn’t run, Caratini tagged him out with runners on 2nd and 3rd ending the 8th inning threat.

Also, not running out a weakly hit pop up, was our MVP Kris Bryant. In the third inning Bryant, hit what appeared to be a foul ball. By the time the Angels 3rd baseman, Yunel Escobar, caught the weak pop up, a strong cross wind had blown it fair. To be honest the video I saw only showed Bryant standing and looking at the ball immediately after he hit it, then they cut to the catch. So maybe he took off after watching it for a while, but that ball could have dropped into fair territory.

Am I nit-picking? Sure, but isn’t that what Spring is about?

Another play I noticed came in the second inning. After back to back walks to Miguel Montero and Javier Baez, Albert Almora Jr. hit a ground ball to the shortstop, resulting in a 6-4-3 double play. What caught my eye, was that Almora had to take a short half step as he approached first. A stutter step if you will. I think this was the result of him taking a very poor path up the first base line. He was likely disappointed with the ground ball, who wouldn’t. His follow through, though, took him well in front of home plate. He ran the entire way to first base out on the infield grass. This detour likely caused him to take that last shortened stride and could have been the difference between a fielder’s choice and the double play.

FIELDING

Since I just beat up on Almora let me give him some credit. In addition to the double he had in the 4th inning, he had a great game in center field. OK that was obvious. Back to the not so obvious. Chesney Young played an excellent 3rd base. The angles (not Angels) he took cutting off ground balls hit to his left, was text book. He had a very good game at the hot corner.

On the not so good, the big 6th inning by the Angels was aided by a complete breakdown by 1st baseman Chris Dominguez and pitcher Miakel Cleto. That pesky wind that blew Bryant’s foul ball back into fair territory, blew Angel’s David Fletcher‘s weak infield pop up from the third base side of the mound to the first base side of the mound. Neither Dominquez nor Cleto made an attempt to catch it, while Young and Caratini scrambled to make the play. Isn’t it funny how plays like that turn into big innings.

Maybe you noticed these plays like I did, maybe not. Maybe they don’t really mean much in the big picture, maybe they do.

One final not so obvious moment. After Angel’s C.J. Cron hit a home run in the 3rd inning, the fan who chased down the ball, in true Wrigley Field fashion, threw it back! The fans already in mid season form.