Fun with Cubs Numbers: 3, 8, 26, 35, 67, .324

The inimitable Seattle poet Anthony L. Ray once opined that 36-24-26 was only befitting of a lady who was 5-foot-3, and presumably shorter. There was also something in there about cars, workout gurus, and the proclivities of his Amazonian snake, but it’s the numbers I want to get back to. Baseball is, after all, a game defined by statistics.

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. And the one constant through all the years of baseball, dear reader, has been numbers. They may have changed with the advent of new technologies and ways of viewing the game, but we’re still measuring everything. ABS challenges show us just how close a ball was to being a strike; we know a baserunner’s sprint speed as he tries to steal second; we can tell exactly how much ground an outfielder covers to make a play with a mere 5% catch probability.

So with that in mind, I wanted to have a little fun with some of the numbers the Cubs have generated this season. Let’s dive in…

Shaw Has 3 XBH from 9 Hole

Matt Shaw doubled thrice from the last spot in the order on Wednesday night, making him just the fifth Cub in history to do so. Interestingly enough, two of the others were also in the ballpark. Carson Kelly (3/31/25) and Kyle Schwarber (6/7/17) are joined by David Bote (5/28/19) and Grover Cleveland Alexander (6/20/25) as the other Cubs to have matched Shaw’s feat.

Doubles could end up being Shaw’s bread and butter in the bigs, though he’ll run into his share of homers. The big night got him up to 101 wRC+, meaning he’s an above-average run producer at this point, and he’s well above last year’s ISO and slugging numbers. When it comes to slugging, though, no one in the organization is doing it better than the next guy.

Alcántara Has 7 Homers

Many were perplexed when Kevin Alcántara was left off the Opening Day roster, especially when Michael Conforto and Dylan Carlson broke camp with the big club. The more cynical onlookers viewed that as Craig Counsell preferring veterans over young players, which isn’t entirely out of pocket, but the truth is that the Cubs want The Jaguar getting everyday at-bats that he couldn’t find in Chicago.

He’s certainly making the most of his third season at Triple-A, hammering seven homers through his first 15 games to drive an absurd .446 ISO with an equally jaw-dropping .679 slug. He’s averaging one homer every eight at-bats or nine plate appearances, which I’m told is a relatively high frequency. Of course, he’s also striking out at a 38.1% clip that would be the worst of his career at any level by almost five points.

The rangy outfielder can play all three positions in the grass and his ceiling is very high based on his power output, but he’ll need to maintain prodigious pop if he doesn’t curb the Ks. The best comps for Alcántara are probably James Wood and Oneil Cruz, both of whom have right around the same frame (just a little more filled out) and make up for their strikeouts with homers. But those guys were among the bottom four in MLB with right around 32% strikeout rates last season, so Alcántara is going to need to trim those whiffs to get the call.

Imanaga Whiffs Franchise-Best 26

Remember when people were freaking out about Shōta Imanaga accepting the $22.025 million qualifying offer because there was no way he’d provide that much value? We’re only four starts in, but he’s currently sporting a 37.8% strikeout rate that leads all qualified pitchers. For what it’s worth, Mason Miller‘s 74.1% rate leads the whole world if we go with a five-inning minimum.

Imanaga struck out a career-high 11 Phillies in just six innings of work last night, racking up a franchise-best 26 swings and misses in the process. He actually tied countryman Yu Darvish (8/23/20 vs White Sox) for that mark, though it’s possible others have matched or exceeded it since pitch tracking only dates back to 2008. Then again, the fact that Jake Arrieta never generated that many whiffs at any point in 2015 is telling.

It’s frustratingly telling that Imanaga just picked up his first win of the season after no-decisions in two previous starts that featured a total of one run and three hits allowed. It’s almost like run support is important even when your ace is shoving.

Cubs Have Scored 35 Runs in 4 Games

Imanaga’s previous start ended in a 2-0 shutout loss to the Pirates, then the Cubs scored just three in another loss. Since then, however, they’ve scored no fewer than seven in four straight games for a total of 35 runs. Everything seems to be clicking, though not everyone is at peak performance.

Busch’s Career-Low 67 MPH Bat Speed

Michael Busch snapped an unsightly 0-for-30 slump with a bloop single in Sunday’s win, then he followed it up with two hits on Monday, but the underlying data remains ugly. That slump-buster left his bat at just 68.2 mph, nearly 27 ticks below what is considered a hard-hit ball and exactly 24 below Busch’s average exit velocity from last season. His check-swing unintentional bunt on Monday registered just 26.5 mph, helping to lower his average EV this season to a mere 84.7 mph.

That falls in the eighth percentile among all MLB hitters, more than 8% lower than in 2025, which seems odd when you consider that he’s squaring the ball up more frequently. But Busch is also swinging much slower than ever, with an average bat speed of 67 mph that is down 2.6 mph from last year. Only eight qualified hitters swing slower, and we’re not talking about the kind of company a power hitter needs to keep.

Busch isn’t a contact hitter, nor is he trying to be, but it seems as though he may have gotten a little domed up by his early struggles. What I mean is that he could be resorting to his B-hack in order to dig out of his hole. Not bad in theory when it’s happening in a very small sample, but protracted usage could create a kind of learned helplessness in which his A-hack is no longer readily accessible.

There are more knowledgeable hitting coaches than me in Chicago, so I’ll let them figure out what’s best. That said, I’d like to see him get in the cage against some middle-middle heaters just to let the swing eat. He could even incorporate targeted bat-speed training methods with overload/underload implements, though I think a lot of this is mental rather than physical.

Nico Hoerner Batting .324

Even if Busch wasn’t mired in a slump, moving Nico Hoerner into the leadoff spot on a full-time basis was always going to be the right move. In 44 PAs since Craig Counsell stopped platooning the role based on the opposing pitcher, Hoerner is slashing .357/.386/.548 with two homers, a 163 wRC+, and an MLB-leading 15 RBI. That latter mark is not relative to leadoff hitters, but all spots in the order.

I am typically loath to cite batting average as an indicator of production, but it’s an important aspect of Hoerner’s particular brand of baseball. After flirting with .300 last year and ultimately falling three points shy, a more consistent role could see him make another serious push for a batting title. Talk about the Cubs’ investment paying off immediately.

It’s actually paying off early, since the new money doesn’t kick in until next year.