Chicago Cubs: Offseason priority of finding a leadoff hitter

The Chicago Cubs have lacked a true leadoff hitter since Dexter Fowler departed via free agency and it’s time to finally shore up the problem.

When Dexter Fowler was first acquired in a trade with the Houston Astros, I don’t think many Chicago Cubs fans expected him to have the impact that he did. During his time with the Rockies, Fowler arguably had his best season in 2012 when he posted a 0.300/0.389/0.474 line with 18 doubles, 11 triples, 13 home runs, and 53 RBI. However, outside of that season, he never posted a wRC+ above 106 in his six seasons.

He put up really good numbers in his one season with the Astros but nobody expected him to post a 0.393 OBP during the 2016 season. If you recall, the Cubs were expecting to head into the 2016 season without Fowler until he showed up at Spring Training with Theo Epstein. He led off Game 7 of the 2016 World Series with a home run and the rest is history.

However, it’s been a carousel at the leadoff position for the Cubs since Fowler departed for the bitter rival, St. Louis Cardinals during the 2016 offseason. Kyle Schwabrer was expected to be the leadoff hitter of the future but he posted a 0.312 OBP during the 2017 season as the leadoff hitter with a 0.190 batting average. The Cubs, as a team, had a 0.324 OBP from their revolving door of leadoff hitters that season.

Flash forward to 2018 and it appeared the problem was solved via Albert Almora, who posted a 0.368 OBP in 50 games as the Cubs’ leadoff man. But he experienced one of the worst regressions seen from one year to the next with a 0.221 OBP in 18 games in the leadoff position this past season.

Schwarber saw the most time at leadoff in 2019, hoping to build on his numbers from 2017. But things never materialized as he had just a 0.304 OBP from that spot. Heyward batted 33 games from the leadoff spot with a 0.252 OBP and Ben Zobrist‘s 0.368 OBP from the leadoff spot is a bit misleading, given the amount of time he missed this season. And while Anthony Rizzo will always be the greatest leadoff hitter in team history, his bat is better served in the heart of the lineup.

So that leaves Theo Epstein with a large task this offseason, in addition to finding a new manager which is well underway. This team has lacked a true leadoff hitter since Fowler’s departure, and while an argument can be made that it’s an overrated role, there’s no denying the Cubs offense has suffered the last two seasons without one.

And while a solution is not immediately clear, the Cubs do have a potential option in Nico Hoerner who looked great in the month of September but it’s too small of sample size. Looking at his Double-A numbers, his 0.344 OBP is impressive but there’s no telling if a direct correlation will occur.