Great game by Georgie, great catch, homerun left the park at a 23 degree launch angle in about 2.1 seconds. He is a deadly weapon up at the plate. The outs were blistered right at fielders. Sczcur should be ready to come back from the DL hopefully. I'd like to see Georgie get some time back in right field.
When it comes to big, the Cubs have just about cornered the market. The group of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Brant, Jorge Soler, and Kyle Schwarber looks more like a linebacking corps than the core of a lineup. All four have gotten a bit of press for their ability to hit baseballs, but it’s upon the latter two that I’ll now turn your attention. That’s because both Soler (92.93, 14th) and Schwarber (93.84, 4th) reside on that list I mentioned earlier in terms of batted ball velocity.
When I first saw the numbers, I was quite surprised they weren’t transposed. After all, Soler just seems to be abusing pitches lately and he has the higher top-end velo (116 mph) of the pair. But he’s also less consistent and has produced a bit more soft contact, thus dragging the average down.
Of the 13 balls he’s put in play in August, Soler has hit six over 100 mph; two of those were 109 and two more 111. He’s also hit five balls that have left his bat at 85 mph or less. Schwarber has exceeded triple digits on 6 of his 10 batted balls in August and has been under 85 mph three times.
Baez is never going to change. He's going to be a .270/.325/.500 type hitter for his career. He's basically Soriano with a good glove. That is a very valuable player.
I have seen Baez hitting to right center more. Thats change when the count goes against him. Let him hack at the first two strikes as long as he is shortening up with two strikes. Mental mistakes for Baez today though, could have had a double play if he just threw the ball to second instead of chasing the runner back, ran thru a late stop sign, but he was not even at third when the infielder had the cutoff, this bouncing around seems to be getting to him.
Side note though, Eloy Jimenez with a big blast in the futures game and a catch diving over the railing while Soler is the one being mentioned in the deal with the yankees now. Crowded outfield with Heywood and Fowler, really gotta wonder who Theo will trade. Seems like the yankees will be getting alot of teams calling them towards the end of the month.