CLEVELAND \u2014 Building a major-league career is about surviving and adapting.<\/p>\n
No major-leaguer goes through his entire career without enduring slumps and having to adjust his game because of age. But the jump from his rookie season to his second is the most jarring.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018My second year [in 2018] was way harder than the first year,\u2019\u2019 Cubs left fielder Ian Happ said. \u2018\u2018Guys do make adjustments [against you] throughout the first season, but then when they have a whole year of data and an offseason to prepare, it\u2019s tough.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018You have to find a way to adjust back and just keep tweaking.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Happ\u2019s knowledge is instructive for rookie Moises Ballesteros, who hasn\u2019t had the most productive start after being named the Cubs\u2019 primary designated hitter. He\u2019s batting .158 with three hits in seven games.<\/p>\n
Ballesteros, 22, is among the players the Cubs are counting on to help replace outfielder Kyle Tucker\u2019s production after he signed with the Dodgers during the offseason. Ballesteros was called up last September in part because of Tucker\u2019s injuries, and he responded by batting .298 with an .868 OPS.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018[Playing DH] is definitely a new role for me,\u2019\u2019 Ballesteros said. \u2018\u2018But I feel like I\u2019m taking it well.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Though he is a catcher by trade, Ballesteros\u2019 best trait is his bat. It\u2019s his advanced skills at the plate that earned him a spot on the Cubs\u2019 playoff roster last season.<\/p>\n
He has a mature approach and a sweet swing that instills belief he\u2019ll continue to improve during the course of a major-league season. He has hit at every level in the minors and had nothing left to prove at Triple-A Iowa.<\/p>\n
Though the sample size this season is small, Ballesteros said pitchers are throwing him more breaking balls (38.6%) than they did last season (18.9%). He also said that teams are throwing him more curveballs and fastballs at the top of the zone and that he needs to show more restraint in laying off those pitches.<\/p>\n
To this point, however, Ballesteros has shown he\u2019s adept at adjusting to however pitchers try to attack him.<\/p>\n
Suzuki\u2019s impending return<\/p>\n
Right fielder Seiya Suzuki took a significant step in his return from a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that has forced him to start the season on the injured list. He played five innings Friday for Double-A Knoxville, going 1-for-2 with an RBI.<\/p>\n
Suzuki suffered the injury while playing for Japan in the World Baseball Classic. He began ramping up for a return Monday and went through sliding and outfield drills to test his movement Tuesday.<\/p>\n
As long as the pain doesn\u2019t return, Suzuki might be nearing a return to the lineup.<\/p>\n
Postponed<\/p>\n
The Cubs-Guardians game Saturday was postponed because of threatening weather. The teams will play a doubleheader beginning at 12:10 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n
Right-hander Edward Cabrera will start for the Cubs in Game 1 and left-hander Shota Imanaga in Game 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 Building a major-league career is about surviving and adapting. No major-leaguer goes through his entire career…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,4245,161,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-663677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-cubs","11":"tag-chicagocubs","12":"tag-cubs","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116349197887431651","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}