There’s nothing worse for a pitcher than recurring control problems.
You didn’t have to know baseball to understand this on Sunday night at Wrigley Field. All it took was one glance at Tyler Chatwood as he mournfully trudged toward the Cubs dugout in the third inning, looking like he’d lost his best friend.
He has, in a way.
Chatwood has misplaced the ability to throw a baseball where he wants, and for now his control problems are costing him a great chance to establish himself with one of baseball’s power teams. At least he has his teammates.
The Cubs recovered from Chatwood’s troubling start to beat the Giants 8-3 before 41,587, with Javier Baez hitting a three-run homer, Albert Almora Jr. delivering two doubles and the bullpen stringing together 6 1/3 scoreless innings.
Rookie lefty Randy Rosario was the winning pitcher in the deciding game of the Memorial Day weekend series.
Joe Maddon loved that Baez went the other way with a 1-1 cutter from reliever Pierce Johnson, driving it into the right-field seats for his 13th homer. He said he and coaches had emphasized that Baez should do a better job using the whole field and saw Baez working on it during batting practice.
“He was working on his skills,” Maddon said. “That’s what he did, and it paid off.”
As nice as the victory was, it won’t solve the riddle of how to reboot Chatwood’s onboard navigation system, which has lost its wireless connection.
“We have work to do; he has work to do,” Maddon said. “I’m not saying by any means (we are) giving up on this fellow. I really believe in (him). His stuff is that good. We’ve just got to get a more stable routine that permits him to control himself when he gets out there. That’s it.”
Cubs President Theo Epstein gave a three-year, $38 million contract to the 28-year-old Chatwood last winter, a reward for surviving five seasons pitching at Coors Field. He seemed set to elevate his performance away from the thin air and all that outfield acreage but has walked five or more in seven of his 10 starts for the Cubs.
Chatwood walked five in 2 2/3 innings against the Giants in a “Sunday Night Baseball” telecast on ESPN2. He had similarly failed to get out of the third inning against the Indians on Tuesday at Wrigley, when he walked six. He now has walked 23 in 192/3 innings in his last five starts and leads the majors with 45 walks, eight more than runner-up Lucas Giolito of the White Sox.
Chatwood’s wildness hasn’t exactly come out of nowhere; he walked 11 in 21 2/3 innings in spring training. But he had walked five-plus only four times in 52 starts over the last two seasons, when he made a successful return from Tommy John surgery.
Umpire Eric Cooper knew early this wasn’t going to be an easy night as Chatwood walked two of the first four hitters he faced. His low point was in walking Giants pitcher Ty Blach in both the second and third innings. He threw only 46 of 88 pitches for strikes.
There was widespread approval of the Cubs’ Chatwood signing early in the slow-developing Hot Stove season. Some said he could do for the North Siders what Charlie Morton is doing for the Astros.
He had it all going for him — not just the move from Coors but also a tick upward in velocity and elite spin rate on his curveball. But the ability to throw strikes is essential to all of this, and suddenly Chatwood has turned into Mitch Williams.
With Yu Darvish on the disabled list, expect the Cubs to continue starting Chatwood every fifth game. He’s on track to face the Mets on Friday in New York and should take his turn against the Phillies next week at Wrigley.
Maddon implied that the Cubs would use their staff sports psychologists and counselors to help Chatwood put less pressure on himself.
“We’re going to try (to fix it on the fly),” Maddon said. “We’re going to see how that plays out. It’s not easy. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but I believe we can do it. I believe he can do it.”
Phil Rogers is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai
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