Monday Cubs Graph Weekly Recap: August 26, 2024
Welcome to the first Monday Cubs Graph Weekly Recap post! Each Monday, you’ll get a recap of the past week’s Cubs events and key player trends.
Welcome to the first Monday Cubs Graph Weekly Recap! Each Monday, you’ll get a quick rundown of the past week’s Cubs events and key player trends.
I’ll share graphs highlighting the most relevant trends with ↓, ↑, or ↔ indicating the direction. The black vertical line marks 10 days ago to show trend direction. These posts aim to be informative yet easy to digest. If they’re not, or if you have suggestions for future updates, please let me know—this is an experiment.
Last week, the offense showed positive momentum, led by Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Miguel Amaya. While many players are trending up in expected run production and launch angle, Swanson’s dip in exit velocity and Bellinger’s swing mechanics are areas to watch.
Expected run production (xwOBA)
↑: Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Miguel Amaya, Cody Bellinger
↔: Seiya Suzuki, Nico Hoerner, Michael Busch, Dansby Swanson
Highlight: PCA, Amaya, and Happ have been trending upwards with xwOBA’s over .400 over their last 30 balls put in play.
Exit Velocity (hit speed)
↑: Ian Happ, Miguel Amaya
↔: Seiya Suzuki, Michael Busch, Cody Bellinger, Nico Hoerner
↓: Dansby Swanson, Pete Crow-Armstrong
Highlight: Swanson saw the biggest dip in exit velocity. Happ is hitting the hardest. Despite a slight drop, PCA is still outpacing Cody Bellinger in exit velocity.
Launch Angle
↑: Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cody Bellinger, Miguel Amaya
↔: Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner
↓: Dansby Swanson
Highlight: Almost everyone on the Cubs is hitting more fly balls, except for Swanson. Suzuki is hitting more fly balls than at any other point this season.
Swing Length
↑: Cody Bellinger, Dansby Swanson
↔: Miguel Amaya, Nico Hoerner, Pete CrowArmstrong, Ian Happ, Michael Busch
↓: Seiya Suzuki
Highlight: Bellinger and Swanson have much longer swing lengths compared to the rest of the team, with Swanson’s swing trending sharply upwards. Meanwhile, Happ, who’s been hitting the ball hardest, has the shortest swing—a powerful combination.
Bat Speed (swing speed)
↑: Miguel Amaya
↔: Ian Happ, Dansby Swanson
↓: Seiya Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch, Cody Bellinger, Nico Hoerner
Highlight: Bellinger has the longest swing and the slowest speed—a combination that might not be ideal. Amaya has had the fastest swing on the team recently, showcasing his talent. PCA’s bat speed has decreased, possibly indicating a focus on bat control, which has been effective given his recent results.
Whiffs (swinging strike rate)
↑: Nico Hoerner
↔:Seiya Suzuki, Michael Busch, Cody Bellinger, Nico Hoerner, Ian Happ, Dansby Swanson
↓: Pete Crow-Armstrong
Highlight: Wow! Check out PCA’s dramatic dip in swinging strike rate—down from around 20% in August to under 10% now, putting him in line with Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger.
Last Week’s Cubs Graphs Post Highlight
Last week, I used a tool called Pitch DNA to find Jack Neely’s look-alike. I was surprised by the results, which were driven due to his release point and ‘tight’ pitch shapes. Check out the post below.
CHGO Cubs Weekly Recap
Corey and I talked about many of these graphs and much more in this week’s CHGO Cubs Weekly Recap episode, which you can watch below.
Stay tuned for more insights in next week’s recap! If you don’t mind, since I’m just starting out with these posts, I’d appreciate it if you could share them. This way, I can get more feedback and make these posts as efficient and useful as possible.