Three up, three down: An update on the Cubs, May 28 edition

Since the last installment of this feature ran on May 20, the Cubs are 1-5 and have been outscored 31-16.

As you can imagine, then, it wasn’t easy to find “three up” performances for the week. And there could have been a lot more than just three for “down.”

Nevertheless, I found some positive things to talk about, so let me start with those.

Three up

Ian Happ has come out of his slump

Over the six games, Happ batted .333/.400/.833 (6-for-18) with three doubles, two home runs and a pair of walks. This followed, as you know, a very long slump for Happ. This is not uncommon in Happ’s career — long periods of not hitting, followed by long hot streaks. I hope one of those hot streaks has begun.

Happ’s batting woes have not hurt his defense. Check out this diving catch he made Monday in Milwaukee 

Happ is second among MLB left fielders (first in the NL) with four defensive runs saved. I believe at the end of the season, he will be around his career norm for OPS (.800 or so) and he’ll win another Gold Glove.

Justin Steele appears to have righted the ship

Steele was awesome Monday in Milwaukee, throwing seven shutout innings, allowing three hits (all singles), one walk and striking out eight.

Steele also threw well against the Braves last Wednesday. He threw into the seventh inning, and only three runs scored while he was in the game. Two baserunners were inherited by Jose Cuas, and, well... you know.

Looks like Steele is beginning to show his All-Star form from last year.

Ben Brown, your table is more than ready

Brown threw four shutout innings against the Braves last Thursday, allowing just one hit and striking out six.

It’s too bad he couldn’t go farther in that game (removed after 66 pitches), because as soon as Hayden Wesneski entered, a home run ensued, and that was that, because the Cubs got shut out.

Back to Brown — he has been just outstanding since a rough MLB debut against the Rangers. Since then, in 11 appearances (five starts) he has a 1.91 ERA (2.18 FIP), 0.929 WHIP and 44 strikeouts in 37⅔ innings.

He’s starting tonight in Milwaukee. Hopefully his pitch limit has been bumped up to maybe 85 or so. The Cubs need length out of their starters, and Brown is showing signs of being one of the best the Cubs have.

Three down

This segment could have been “six down” or “seven down” because, well, just about the entire rest of the team has been in a major slump.

Catching is still a major issue

It’s not just the hitting of Miguel Amaya and Yan Gomes, though that’s bad enough. The pair have combined to hit .175/.216/.271 (31-for-177) with 58 strikeouts. The .487 OPS is second-worst among MLB teams’ catchers — only the Marlins (.442) are worse. Over the last week, Amaya and Gomes combined to hit .118/.211/.118 (2-for-17) with eight strikeouts. That’s just not MLB-quality hitting.

But beyond that, these two simply cannot throw out runners trying to steal. Cubs opponents have stolen 42 bases in 50 attempts (84 percent), which is, well, terrible.

The team is going to have to address this, and soon.

Mark Leiter Jr. is no longer lights-out

Leiter had been excellent for the first six weeks or so of the season, but his last two outings have been terrible, a total of one inning pitched with five hits and a walk allowed, and seven runs (six earned).

To be fair, if Amaya makes a tag properly Saturday in St. Louis, Leiter gets out of that inning with no runs allowed — and the Cubs probably win the game, too. That’s another thing that has to improve with the catching.

But Leiter wasn’t any good in Monday’s game either. It’s not from overuse — he has had just two appearances over the last week. Here’s hoping they fix whatever’s wrong, and soon.

Christopher Morel’s BA has dropped below the Mendoza Line

Morel went 1-for-20 (a single) over the six games, though he did draw four walks. Still, a .240 OBP isn’t going to cut it.

This slump for Morel has lasted a lot longer than one week, too. On May 6 he had a .764 OPS, which is pretty close to the .781 he had entering 2024.

Since then Morel is batting .150/.260/.217 (9-for-60) with 17 strikeouts. That’s not going to cut it. His defense has also begun to backslide, likely one reason Craig Counsell has started using him more as a DH recently. Perhaps Morel needs a break like Happ got.

As noted, I could have included several other Cubs in “three down,” including Dansby Swanson, Michael Busch and Cody Bellinger.

No team is as bad as it looks when it’s on a long losing streak. This Cubs team is better than they’ve played over the last week. We are at exactly the one-third mark of the season and the Cubs are 27-27. A reminder that they were 24-30 at this point last year — and that got worse, as they lost six of eight after that to go to a season-low 10 games under .500. It got a lot better after that, before the September collapse.

I continue to believe this Cubs team will come out of this funk and play better. Just about every hitter on this team is hitting below his career norms. That can’t last forever.

Hopefully, coming out of the slump begins tonight in Milwaukee.