David Bote was one of the Cubs' disappointments of 2021. Going into the season, he was projected to hit pretty well, even after coming off a rough 2020 season. However, that did not happen, and injuries also caused some negative effects on his playing.
Here are some bullets on his 2021 season:
- Overall, he hit .199/.276/.330 with a 64 wRC in 291 AB. He had 58 Hits, 35 RBIs and 8 HR in his 291 ABs. So, overall, not good production in the hitting department. What mainly caused that?
- He had a relatively average 22.3% K rate, compared with a 8.3% BB rate, so nothing too alarming there. He had pretty good zone control, with a SwingStrikePer. of only 11%. So, we can conclude, even if he did have an off year, the zone control, strikeouts, and walks are pretty good.
- Another thing was good as well, the contact. He had a 76.8% Contact rate, which can be a very good thing. That shows he can make contact with pitches, which is obviously the main part of being a successful hitter. The problem, however, was the contact that was made.
- His HardH rate was down to 43.7%, which isn't bad, but he has had an approximate 52% HardH rate two different seasons. So, that was down some, but it is still a pretty good number.
- Two different contact stats stand out to me, and it would to teams' coaches as well. He had a 47.5% GB rate, and also a 43.7% Pull%. So, that means he had an almost 50% chance of hitting a groundball to either third or shortstop. That's big, and I'm sure other teams could easily see that and use it to their advantage.
- Plus, he did that even more when the Cubs were playing away. He had a 55.3% GB rate, and a 52.4% Pull% at away games. Right there is one of the main reasons for his lack of productivity: groundballs to the left side of the infield.
- His fielding was pretty good, logging 468 innings at 2nd, and 173 innings at third. He had a -1 DRS at 2nd, and a 1 DRS at 3rd, so a pretty average defender.
After all that, and summarizing that his main problem was his predictable groundballs, how does he fit into the Cubs plans for 2022?
The Cubs have no room at 2nd for Bote, having both Madrigal and Hoerner who mainly play 2nd, so 3rd is a definite possibility. Defensively, Bote was better at 3rd, but also logged less innings there. Of course, Wisdom is also expected to be given a spot at third, but Bote might be that good stabilizer to a guy like Wisdom who has great power but bad zone control.
Another factor is DH. If the DH is implemented in the NL, the Cubs don't have a clear leading candidate for a full-time spot as DH. Of course, guys like Gomes and Frazier might get a chance at that when not position-playing, but there is not one obvious choice for DH. Now, if the Cubs had a guy like Castellanos or Schwarber, that would be easy, but they do not and are not likely to.
So, that leads to the question, would Bote be a good candidate for that? Fangraph's projected 2022 stats for Bote is: .239/.320/.403 with a 94 wRC. So, not MVP levels, but not too bad. We know he has some good power, and would fit the description of a DH, but the Cubs might decide his defense is more valuable.
My guess would be that the Cubs would use a bunch of different guys as DH in the beginning and try to analyze how they each did. My guess would be that one of the outfielders would get that role, seeing they have players like Happ, Ramirez, Frazier, Hermosillo and Ortega who all can't be in the outfield at once.
That would leave Bote either with a bench role or a platoon at third, unless the Cubs decide to give Wisdom the bench role and have Bote as the main man at third to start. Right now, I have the feeling his role is going to be at third or bench, and not DH or 2nd.
That's all for our evaluation on Bote, and enjoy your lockout, Baseball fans!
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