By Jordan Long
The Chicago Cubs are in need of a catcher. They placed starting catcher Wilson Contreras on the injured list with a hamstring injury. They were hoping he would be there short-term, but reports are saying he will be out for at least 4 weeks. Chicago may bring in veteran Jonathan Lucroy to take his place.
The Cubs have one backup catcher they can trust in Victor Caratini. He is now the starting catcher with Contreras out. Caratini appeared in 34 games while starting 27 for the Cubs this season. Caratini seldomly has an error on him when throwing out baserunners with 1 error.
His offensive numbers don’t jump out. He is hitting .258 with 5 home runs and 21 RBI’s. He takes chances swinging at pitches outside the zone equaling 32 strikeouts. Even though these numbers aren’t great, Caratini is able to smack the ball in the gap for extra base hits to be in scoring position with 7 doubles.
Chicago doesn’t have depth behind Caratini. The only other catcher on the depth chart is Taylor Davis. Davis is inexperienced at the MLB level with 5 games started behind the plate. In those games he hasn’t recorded an error. On offense Davis has 33 at bats with a batting average of .242 with 1 home run and 7 RBI’s.
Chicago needs more stability while Contreras is out. Lucroy makes a lot of sense. He was released by the Los Angeles Angels this week. Lucroy had been out since July 7th when he suffered a collision at the plate which gave him a broken nose and a concussion. He was set to return but the Angels designated him for assignment. They decided to go forward with catcher Max Stassi.
Lucroy has played 10 MLB seasons and is the veteran the Cubs need. He won’t hit for power with a career batting average of .275 with 107 home runs and 539 RBI’s. At the catcher position, he would improve the Cubs. Lucroy is able to throw runners out trying to reach 1st base or advancing on the base paths. Those putouts may end scoring threats for the opponents.
His downside is errors. He has a total of 3 errors so far this season. Some of them are when runners are trying to steal a base and he throws the baseball into center field. Other times he is just a little off tossing the baseball to 1st base. Those wouldn’t help the Cubs.
Chicago might want to think about agreeing to a contract with Lucroy for the rest of the year. They may not know how healthy Contreras is even when he comes back because he may end up hurting the hamstring again. Lucroy is a veteran who would create stability and a chance for Chicago to win the National League Central Division. 0006000
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