Skip to main content

Evaluating Willson Contreras' 2021 Season

 

Contreras is only one of 3 people left from the Cubs 2016 WS team, the others being Heyward and Hendricks, and he's been one of the more consistent and reliable players the Cubs have had, also providing good clubhouse leadership. 

Although it remains to be seen if Contreras will be on the Cubs in 2022, lets just assume he will be and take a look at his 2021 season.

Overall he hit .237 BA, .778 OPS, with 98 H, 21 HR, and 52 BB in 413 AB over 128 Games.

He had a bit of an off year, considering his career average was .259 BA and .807 OPS, but his best month was September/October, hitting .294 BA and .919 OPS. 

Some things deserve some notice:

  • He hit lefties better than righties. Vs lefties: .284 BA, .891 OPS. Vs righties: .219 BA, .734 OPS. That is normal for a right-handed batter, but being the everyday catcher the Cubs always rely on in their lineup, perhaps hitting lefties could be helped. Maybe the new hitting coach will help?
  • He has a MUCH better average if he is ahead in the count (ie. 2-0, 3-1, etc.), then if he is behind in the count. For example: 0-2 count (.167 BA), 1-2 count (.094 BA), 2-2 count (.128 BA), 3-2 count (.093 BA!). That is NOT good. In other words, if he is behind in the count, then it'll probably be an out, probably a strikeout. Especially the full count- c'mon man! That DEFINITELY needs some work.
  • He has a 48.6% hard hit rate, so that's not too bad, but if he hits to infield, he has a .083 BA. So, if it makes it to the outfield, he's probably got a single or double. If not, well, that's probably an out. He hit to the infield 132 times, and only got a hit 11 times, so perhaps not hitting to infield might be something to work on.
  • His fielding his good, with a .993 fielding percentage, but throwing out runners was a little off this year, as runners stole 46 bases, only getting caught 12 times, which is a 21% caught stealing percentage, lower than his career 30% CS. He did pick-off 5 runners this year!
If Contreras stays on the Cubs in 2022, which I hope he does, you can expect his hitting and fielding stats to go back up to about his career average.

But if he does not...then I think the Cubs should target Mike Zunino, the Rays' primary catcher. If they did trade Contreras, I hope that it would be for starting pitching, because I think offensively they can get some pretty good guys on the FA list without having to trade some guys. (Unless it is Bote or Heyward, they can trade them).

Overall on Contreras, I see a well-rounded catcher who can show that he can hit well (rare in catchers today), and be a good defensive player who can be relied on for a heavy workload.

David Ross has trusted Contreras and relied on his hitting in the lineup, getting some lead-off time as well as 3-6 man in the lineup most often. I hope Contreras stays and becomes one of the core pieces in the Cubs' rebuild- which I don't think will last as long as the previous one.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reliving the Cubs' 2016 Postseason Highlights

 As we enter the final stretch for baseball in 2021- a Braves/Astros World Series, it's a good time to look back at memorable Cubs' history in 2016, when the Cubs broke a 108 year WS win drought to beat the Indians in the World Series. The Cubs cruised to a 103-58 standing at the end of the season, getting the NL Central pennant and meaning they'd face the winner of the Wild Card, who ended up being the Giants. Game One of the NLDS Jon Lester threw 8 shut-out innings, Chapman closed the 9th with a shut-out against the Giants and Javier Baez solo-homered in the 8th to give the Cubs a 1-0 win against the Giants and get the 1-0 series lead. Game Two of the NLDS Kyle Hendricks started the game, only allowing 2 runs, and he drove in 2 runs himself in the 2nd with a single, but he left the game in the 3rd due to a line-drive injury. Reliever Travis Wood replaced Hendricks, and hit a home run, yes a home run in the 4th to give the Cubs a 5-2 lead. That was the first homer to be hi...
2 comments
Read more

Iowa Cubs Roster Evaluation: Infield Depth

The last article I wrote evaluating the Iowa Cubs' roster, I analyzed the pitching depth. This article we'll discuss the infield depth of the Iowa Cubs including catcher, first, second, shortstop and third. If you are unfamiliar with the minor league system, here is my explanation from my previous article: " Players are drafted by a team from high school or college, and when that team drafts them, they start training in that team's farm system, starting with the bottom, usually a complex league or rookie league. Then they jump to the official minor leagues, starting with Low A, and they work their way up to the Triple-A level from which it is one step to reach MLB." That's just a simplified explanation, but it'll give you an idea if you are unfamiliar with the topic. Anyway, as a precursor to my evaluation, I do want to say that infield prospects do a lot of shifting around the infield instead of strictly staying with one position. While some shift around ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Which Top FA Outfielders Would Be A Good Fit for the Cubs?

 Let's start with some overall news and then get into our subject for today. Noah Syndergaard signed a 1-year deal with the Angels today. Kind of an interesting move- seems like they want to get Trout and Ohtani a World Series victory, maybe? Noah Syndergaard agrees to $21M, 1-year Angels deal. @jonmorosi and @JeffPassan 1st — Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 16, 2021 #Angels make their first splash of the offseason; https://t.co/0O5D9wpMUz pic.twitter.com/FyN7v1M421 — MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) November 16, 2021 The Blue Jays have extended their trade-deadline pickup Jose Berrios...   #BlueJays ' big trade-deadline acquisition will be staying in Toronto a lot longer now: https://t.co/1oaDT73uFn pic.twitter.com/Wco3kBiB8G — MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) November 16, 2021 Looks like the Mets finally have their GM after interviewing scores of candidates. I was wondering if they were going to start interviewing fans.  Billy Eppler is finalizing an ag...
Post a Comment
Read more