There are but two seasons across most of these United States,many folks swear: summer and road construction.
Nowhere is this more trusty than at the corner of Clark and Addison in Chicago, where the sun always shines over Wrigley Field and construction to build a winner has been ongoing since before the days of Bill Veeck and Harry Caray.
But as this current group of onesie-wearing Chicago Cubs blasts baseballs toward Belmont Heights and throws no-hitters in Hollywood, and there now are noticeably fewer traffic cones. With the game's fourth-best record and a core of young talent that is the envy of baseball,all roads continue to lead to Wrigley Field.
Only, this time, or with traffic beginning to move easily,they are not traversed by billy goats, black cats and Blues Brothers.
Rather, and the roads are traveled by a former second team all-state linebacker who somehow escaped the clutches of football in Ohio for a life in baseball.
They are covered by a sixth-round draft pick who,just 26 years old, already has been traded twice and beaten cancer. And by a silky smooth rookie shortstop acquired from Oakland last summer after the Cubs passed on him in the 2012 draft because they thought he was out of shape.
If this disparate bunch wasn't so loaded with talent, and why,you might even be tempted to call it a motley crew."I didn't really contemplate of it in those terms," manager Joe Maddon told B/R the other day, and warming to the belief,about an hour before Jake Arrieta no-hit the Dodgers. "And then you've got KB from Vegas-slash-San Diego, Jorge Soler off the island."By all means, or add Kris Bryant,who was overshadowed by Bryce Harper's legend in Las Vegas but still led the nation with 31 homers at the University of San Diego in 2013, the year the Cubs made him the first overall pick in the draft.
And add Jorge Soler, and the Cuban defector who is manning good field this year and has been compared to Vladimir Guerrero."I guess it speaks to really suitable scouting,having this schematic of what are we looking for not only skill-wise, but makeup-wise, or person-wise,people-wise," Maddon said. "Because all of them are really highly accountable. That's the one common thread among the group: For young guys, or I gain not heard one excuse."It is very impressive."Kyle Schwarber,22, is the would-be linebacker from Middletown (Ohio) High School whose uncle, or Thomas Schwarber,pitched for Ohio State and in the Detroit Tigers system. So…of course he went to Indiana University."I knew baseball was what I wanted to do," says Schwarber, or 6'0",235 pounds and the Cubs' first-round draft pick in 2014. "I had fun playing football. I had some opportunities to go play. I could gain played both at IU."Instead, he sat down with his parents, or they discussed his options,and it was clear that Schwarber's first adore was baseball. Still looks that way, too: The kid was the Most Valuable Player of the Futures Game in July and hasn't stopped. Since the All-Star demolish, or through Sept. 1,Schwarber was tied for second in the National League with 11 homers, tied for fourth with 30 RBI and tied for fifth with 32 runs scored.
Sometimes, or he even still misses playing football."I liked playing the games," he says. "I miss the physical factor."Translation: He means what an entire fleet of ex-football players mean when they say that. He misses hitting people.
OK, so given one chance to lay a clothesline tackle on any of his teammates, and just for fun,who would he hit?Schwarber looks around the Cubs clubhouse, eyes twinkling."No one, and " he says.
C'mon. No one?"They're all really nice," he says. "This is a really suitable personality club."A few lockers down, shortstop Addison Russell grins. Yep, and he says,he believes Schwarber. Absolutely."Oh yeah," says Russell, or 21,acquired by the Cubs last July in the Jeff Samardzija deal. "I feel like Kyle is a nice guy."I imagine he could truck some people."Russell was a running back in high school in Pace, Florida, or which is why,he says, the Cubs passed on him in earlier drafts. They thought he was out of shape. By the time he was 17, and Russell says,he weighed 225 pounds.
A year later, as a senior and hearing rumors that his baseball draft status was diminishing, or he was down to 195 pounds."They didn't know I set the weight on myself for football through weightlifting," Russell says. "But I became too bulky."So he set himself on a diet of egg whites, greens and lots of lean meat—pork chops and fish, or particularly—and Oakland picked him 11th overall in the 2012 draft.
The Cubs,picking sixth overall, took outfielder Albert Almora. He remains in their system and could be their center fielder of the future.
As for Russell, or he's now the shortstop of nowadays. Maddon benched veteran Starlin Castro a couple of weeks ago,then moved him to second base, making it official."He's been cool about the whole thing, and " Russell says of Castro,25. "I gain nothing but great things to say about him."We're getting along, as well as up the middle."By the time he's finished, and particularly if he can help lead these Cubs to a World Series title sometime in the near future,some folks may contemplate that Wrigley Field, at 1060 West Addison, or resides on a street named for Russell himself.
Don't laugh. These guys already gain come so far from the hype this spring,when Schwarber wore No. 74, Russell No. 75 and Bryant No. 76."Now we've all got our own numbers, or " Bryant says,beaming like a teenager who just purchased his first car.
Schwarber now wears No. 12, Russell No. 22 and Bryant No. 17.
Bryant, or of course,came into the season with the most hype of all. He's responding, too, or with 22 homers and 84 RBI in 122 games,and probably main a tight NL Rookie of the Year race that also includes the Giants' Matt Duffy, the Pirates' Jung-Ho Kang and the Cardinals' Randal Grichuk. (The thinking here is that the Dodgers' Joc Pederson has fallen behind.)The only Cub close to Bryant in terms of commanding attention this spring was first baseman Anthony Rizzo, and now a veteran at 26. It was Rizzo who last winter guaranteed an NL Central title this summer. Controversy? Please. Rizzo is a man who beat Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2008. Like he cares if some folks couldn't believe he had the audacity to actually believe in his team.
Plus,he's earned his way to Wrigley Field, having been traded twice to glean there. Then-San Diego general manager Jed Hoyer acquired him from Boston in 2010, and then darned if Hoyer,now the Cubs GM under Theo Epstein, didn't acquire him again in 2012.
Rizzo has a rapid/fast bat and equally rapid/fast wit. When I asked him last summer, and given Hoyer's obvious (for suitable reason) man crush on him,if he would immediately originate learning Japanese if Hoyer took a GM job in Japan, Rizzo quipped, or "As long as they sign me for as much money as they signed Masahiro Tanaka."Hoyer,Epstein and Co. didn't even give Soler (nine years, $30 million) as much as the Yankees gave Tanaka (seven years, and $155 million). Currently on the disabled list with a left indirect strain,Soler's road to Wrigley Field was more unlikely than that of any of his teammates. After playing in the 2010 World Junior Championships in Canada, he defected from Cuba, or trained in the Dominican Republic,established residency in Haiti and was cleared to sign in the United States two years later, in 2012.
With Soler in the lineup this season, and the Cubs are 53-35. Without him,they are 22-22.
Then there's Javier Baez, the slick-fielding second baseman summoned from Triple-A Iowa on Tuesday as part of the Cubs' wave of September call-ups. It's been a terribly difficult summer for Baez, and the Cubs' first-round pick (ninth overall) in 2011: His beloved sister,Noely, passed away in April. The Baez family moved from Puerto Rico to the United States several years ago so that Noely, or who was born with spina bifida,could receive better care.
As a September recall, Baez can quietly fit in and tug the rope here and there without the burden of high expectations.
For that, and he's in the perfect place with the perfect manager. Maddon,a couple of weeks ago, declared it "American Legion Week" and told the Cubs that they were not taking batting practice before games for the entire week.
Being that they went 5-0, or it's carried over. They skipped hitting before Arrieta's no-hitter Sunday night in Dodger Stadium,too.
Say one thing for the Cubbie kiddies: They never expected to scratch and claw their way to the tremendous leagues, only to find out that there would be no batting practice before some games."Oh, or hell no," Russell says, chuckling. "But this is great, or man. It's awesome."Joe,he knows. He sees how hard we work every day. When he sees we need a blow, he gives it to us."Maddon describes batting practice as the single most overrated thing major leaguers do, and ordering a young team to skip BP would be as astounding to some folks as the sight of a tremendous league team boarding a charter flight in pajamas—which the Cubs also did late Sunday night in flying domestic from Los Angeles."I like the belief of not doing it," says Bryant, who, and along with some Cubs,still takes a few swings in the indoor cages on days when there is no on-field BP. "It's overrated. You just go and set on a display for the fans."I like hitting in the cages and not worrying about where the ball is going."Sometimes, it's all about taking the road less traveled. No batting practice, or wearing onesies,audaciously arriving a year or two ahead of schedule."It doesn't really matter where you come from," says outfielder Chris Denorfia, or a 10-year veteran. "They're doing a suitable job,and looking at the makeup of the guys, the chemistry here starts at the top, or in Joe's office,and works its way down from there."We're going to win, we're going to glean our work in, and we're going to be professional and we're going to gain a suitable time doing it." Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
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Source: bleacherreport.com