Chicago Cubs: Is Kyle Schwarber continuing to fool us all?

Amid a dreadful, season-long hitting slump, Kyle Schwarber delivered a signature win for the Chicago Cubs on Saturday, when he smashed a go-ahead grand-slam in the bottom of the 7th inning against the Saint Louis Cardinals. Surely his hitting woes are behind him now, right? Well, think again, Cubs’ fans.

Every time Chicago Cubs‘ outfielder Kyle Schwarber appears to be hitting rock-bottom, he quickly changes the narrative. At least, for the short being.

Batting just a tick over .160 before hitting the game-winning grand slam in Saturday’s 5-3 win over the Saint Louis Cardinals, Schwarber was receiving criticism from every direction. Given his season-long hitting struggles, a legitimate argument can be made to send him down to the minors.

Of course, that was all prior to his monster grand-slam. A grand-slam that reminded everyone just how talented Schwarber’s bat can be when all is well.

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Unfortunately, high moments like that for Schwarber haven’t come around all too often in 2017. For the young slugger, up to this point, it’s been hit-or-miss with him.

If he’s not crushing towering home runs, Schwarber’s likely to strike out more often than not. Fans who thought that the hitter, seen coming off the season-long disabled list last year, just in time for the World Series, was here to stay for the long-run…they were all fooled once this season began.

Furthermore, anyone who thinks that the grand-slam hit is a sign of more positives to come for Schwarber in the near future, think again. Hitting an occasional home-run will silence some critics, yes. Still, that hardly makes up for a pedestrian batting average, along with poor habits.

The grand-slam that Schwarber hit in Saturday’s ballgame came off the very first pitch he’d see. It was a mistake pitch, one meant to land just off the low, outside corner of the plate. Only the pitch missed its intended target, thus catching too much of the plate, right in Schwarber’s wheel-house.

That is why we shouldn’t fool ourselves into believing that Schwarber is finally out of his hitting funk just yet. Because one mistake pitch thrown won’t be made all too often against Schwarber nowadays. Opposing pitchers are aware that Schwarber is susceptible to chasing high fastballs above the strike zone. They’ll keep attacking him that way to get him out, rather than risk throwing him fastballs lower, yet out over the plate, early on in the count, where he can inflict damage upon.

It’s easy to forget that Schwarber practically missed an entire season of baseball just a year ago. As a result, that missed time is clearly now serving as a steep learning curve for him. It takes time for any hitter, let alone one as talented as Schwarber, to get fully back up to the speed of the game when missing that much valuable game action due to injury.

While his hitting struggles might still persist onward as this season moves along, let’s just be glad that Schwarber is finally healthy and playing baseball regularly in a Cubs’ uniform again.

Is that too much to ask for?

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