The success or failure of the Chicago Cubs pitching staff, and how it weathers the constant storm of injuries, will continue to be a key story on into the second half of the season.
With that in mind, I appreciated hearing from Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy, who was interviewed on Marquee (the full appearance for which is embedded at the bottom of this post). Among the things that stood out to me …
On drafting Cade Townsend in the First Round
“Obviously I’m excited to get a new, fresh, high-octane arm in the organization. I think our draft group, the analytics group, all the people involved in making these selections, do a very diligent job of sorting through the guys – who’s available, what their strengths are, what makes them tick. For me, just watching video of him, it’s a very clean delivery. It’s a little bit like a Jack Leiter, Walker Buehler type – he’s very lean, but athletic and dynamic, and he can spin the baseball. I think that’s the one thing that stood out to me the most – his ability to shape breaking balls, and do it with some power, is pretty unique.”
On the pitching staff’s first half and dealing with injuries
“Last year, I think we probably got a little bit lucky in terms of the 90th, 95th percentile outcomes on injuries. This year, we’re just not that fortunate. So it’s been a group effort, a team effort. I think guys have done a fantastic job stepping up – people who weren’t even in the organization to start the season are coming in and contributing.”
“[It’s] a testament to the guys who are here, guys like Colin Rea and Assad stepping up and carrying a huge brunt of the innings, but also our pro department going out and finding guys like Tyler Ferguson and Ryan Rolison this offseason, guys like them, to help continue to fill the depth we need to get through a season.”
On Javier Assad’s unique sinker
“It’s a unique release for Javy, and the sinker shape isn’t going to jump off the page at you – it’s not going to wow you. But he has a very unique, high arm slot that creates a pretty cool sinker from that position. And when his glove-side sinker is dialed in, it’s just so unique – it’s late, it’s sharp. Hitters have given him feedback that it just doesn’t look like it’s going to move the way it moves. It’s very unique, the way it attacks the strike zone. I think for him, that also sets up his delivery – once that pitch is dialed in, everything else kind of sets up from that point on.”
On Matthew Boyd’s return from injury and the break timing
“I think the best thing for Matt has just been getting back into a consistent routine. When the knee popped up, there were probably some underlying things going on – I know it happened at home playing with the kids, but anything like that, there’s probably something going on prior to that anyway. So getting that taken care of and rebuilding the delivery from the ground up gave us an opportunity to hit the reset button.”
“We’ve seen great strides over the last few outings – his delivery, his execution rate has gone up. I think the way he looks at it, he’s ready to go coming out of the break. He’ll have his little break, and sometimes when the break comes, it’s perfect timing for guys. A guy like Matt Boyd could probably keep going, but he’ll be diligent about his throwing and what he wants to do over the break. I fully anticipate him to hit the ground running coming out of it.”
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