en-us SportSpyder - The Latest Chicago Cubs News https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/news Earlier this week, a number of Chicago Cubs prospects, including a guy who has been getting outsized attention since Spring Training: switch-hitting infield prospect Pedro Ramirez. Some of the basis for the discussion of the just-turned-22, minor-league-gold-glove-winning Ramirez was and, honestly, I’ve been trying to make sense of it ever since: Now, when I say “make sense of,” I don’t mean understand. The chart is very well-made and straightforward. I get what it’s saying. On it, you see a combination of some outliers when it comes to making lots of contact in the strike zone and also having a 90th percentile exit velocity that is quite high (i.e., the average exit velo of your batted balls in the 90th percentile for you). It’s an interesting thing to discuss, since both things are obviously good, but also sometimes work in tension with each other – gearing up for the best of the best contact quality often trades off with an uptick in whiffs. What I mean when I say I couldn’t quite “make sense of” this chart is where Pedro Ramirez shows up. He’s on an island. A very good island. That chart is showing a guy who essentially never misses in the strike zone – think Nico Hoerner or Alex Bregman – but who ALSO really rips the ball when he makes his best contact. I mean, that 90th Percentile Exit Velocity range for Ramirez , around where you see guys like Riley Greene, Manny Machado, or Brandon Lowe. How. How is that possible? How did Pedro Ramirez become this guy over a single offseason? Now, to be fair, there’s some additional context there in the form of an average launch angle on his best-struck balls that is too low. Ideally you’re lifting those a little more often for obvious reasons. But, I mean, look at where THOSE guys show up on the chart! They’re whiffing all the time! Pedro never whiffs in the zone! This is NUTS! Anyway, while I was pondering this topic and thinking through what I wanted to say, Pedro Ramirez went out and did this yesterday: PEDRO RAMIREZ WITH THE LONG BALL — Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) Back even thanks to Pedro Ramirez! — Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) GRAND SLAM! Pedro Ramirez's 8 RBI today ties an I-Cubs franchise record👀 — Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) My lord. And he also made a couple brilliant plays in the field for good measure. On the season, Ramirez, who has already homered nearly as many times as he did all of last year, is up to a .333/.396/.678/170 wRC+ slash line. He’s walking 9.4% of the time, striking out just 18.8% of the time, and he has nearly as many extra-base hits (15) as strikeouts (18). The sample is 96 PAs, which is still small, but is definitely where we start to see discipline and batted ball data showing some signal. I don’t know if he can keep this up, but putting it plainly, Pedro Ramirez has been a completely different hitter this year. If we were looking at him blind and just evaluating a recently-turned 22-year-old, switch-hitting, great defensive 2B/3B who was hitting like this at Triple-A? We would assume he’s a top-30 prospect in all of baseball. I am not exaggerating. Now, there could be reasons why it doesn’t actually play out like that (notice how many of the other outliers on that chart have not actually yet found big league success), and I do understand there have always been projectability concerns with his size/body. But just look what he’s doing. This is really special stuff. From here, what happens? Well, Ramirez is currently about as blocked as blocked gets, with Hoerner and Bregman up there locked into second and third base for many years. Behind them, you have Matt Shaw, who is a legit big leaguer in his own right. My vote is that you do nothing. Don’t consider trading Ramirez. Don’t force him onto the big league roster just yet. Let him keep doing his thing, and if there’s a medium-term injury, then you think about a promotion. Otherwise, you just let the chips fall this year, and then evaluate the roster situation come next spring. He’s already on the 40-man roster, so it’s not inconceivable that Pedro Ramirez comes up at some point this year for a little bit anyway. And just for fun, more over-the-top praise from a BA contributor: When he flips around to bat righty, he's a supercharged Jacob Wilson. If he keeps this up, he'll be the best prospect in baseball. It's still only 400 pitches or so, and I've seen guys drop off after a hot few weeks, but if he does this for 3 months, I'll say something bold. — Eli Ben-Porat 🇨🇦 (@EliBenPorat) Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:59:06 GMT Brett Taylor https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56369109 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56369109 false false Right now, the Chicago Cubs are on an eight-game win streak, which is evident in many aspects across the board, but one piece that definitely helps is Moisés Ba Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:49:29 GMT Maddy Dickens https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56369003 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56369003 false false This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox. Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:39:44 GMT Jordan Bastian https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368905 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368905 false false Deadspin | Streaking Cubs ride offense into finale vs. sinking Phillies Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:35:14 GMT Mike Sullivan https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368824 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368824 false false I know enough by now not to take these long winning streaks for granted. When things are down, you wake up feeling like the Cubs just have no chance on a given day. When things are up, you wake up feeling like it’s just obvious that they’re going to win. In reality, the Cubs may or may not win today, but I’ve been enjoying the heck out of this past week either way. Very good to see Matthew Boyd back in action and more or less looking completely normal. A little bit of a hiccup in the second inning, but even that started with an infield single. Five strikeouts over the 4.2 innings, no walks, six groundouts, 29% CSW. All good stuff. Meanwhile, Ben Brown followed Boyd like a man on a mission. He buzzed his way through 2.1 innings on 37 pitches, almost half of which were called strikes or whiffs. He struck out five, walked none, successfully used all four(!) pitches, and looked completely in control out there. The questions about the best role for him near-and-long-term will persist, but this version of Brown is inarguably quite valuable even if only once or twice a week for a few innings. He now has a 2.37 ERA and 2.67 FIP over 19.0 innings on the season. Ben Brown, K'ing the Side in the 7th — Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) "He's like a new man out on the mound … 'Ben Brown is back,' I don't know if he ever left." gives Ben Brown his flowers 💐 — Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) I was indeed wondering this: In case you wondered ,the Cubs record for winning consecutive games is 21. They ended the 1935 ,coming from behind on Sept 3rd winning out.( lost to Detroit in World Series) MLB record held until 2017 Cleveland’s 22 straight wins.( 1916 Giants 26 straight wins with tie )— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) The longest recent streak is 11 games, which the Cubs have done a number of times (including in 2016). Topping that would require the Cubs to not only pull off the four-game sweep against the Phillies today, but then going out West and sweeping the Dodgers in L.A. That seems unlikely, but it’d make for a fun goal. A relief: Michael Busch leaves the yard for the first time this season! — MLB (@MLB) "I feel like we're just clicking on all cylinders." Michael Busch on today's win 💪 — Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) A reminder on how early it is, and how normal it is for some guys to start out slow: among the other qualified hitters with a wRC+ in the same range as Busch’s 55 right now, you’ll find Bo Bichette, Jarren Duran, Jazz Chisolm Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino, Josh Naylor, Marcell Ozuna, and Lawrence Butler. Some of those guys will go on to have terrible, uncharacteristically down seasons. Maybe Busch will be among them. But most of them will normalize and return to form. That’d be my bet on Busch. The secret to the turnaround: omg there's a goose in busch's locker — nico hoerner extended!!! (@extrainnnings) This is an interesting factoid for reasons that will follow: In MLB history, only one team has had the following numbers over the first 25 games of a season: +50 or better run differential 30+ home runs 200+ pitching strikeouts 0 blown saves That one team is the 2026 . — OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) I suspect that it’s the blown saves that are the real limiting factor there, and here’s why: if the Cubs were to hit one home run today, record three strikeouts, and win by eight runs, they would match that never-happened-ever-before feat … except for the blown saves. The Cubs have two, which is quite few at this stage of the season, but the Braves are the only club to have zero. Remember, a blown save for a team isn’t just when the closer blows it in the 9th – it’s any time a reliever gives up the lead at any point. Pretty hard to have done that zero times through 25 games. So far, Munetaka Murakami has been the absolute best case scenario for the White Sox. Yes, he’s striking out 30+% of the time, but he has so far been able to make up for it with tons of walks and tons of power, including homering in his fifth straight game: FIVE STRAIGHT FOR NO. 5️⃣ — Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) That homer was part of a little MLB history, too: Colson Montgomery & Munetaka Murakami: The first pair of teammates in MLB HISTORY to each homer in 4 consecutive team games 🤯 — White Sox on CHSN (@CHSN_WhiteSox) Weird dynamic: Juan Soto says he did not talk to any teammates during the Mets' losing streak "They've been on the road most of the time. I haven't talked to them" — SNY (@SNYtv) Rehabbing away from the team is completely normal and often advisable, so that part isn’t odd. But do these guys not even text? I would think there would be SOME relationships there, especially with the guy on your team whose contract rounds up to a billion bucks. The Mets, by the way, finally ended their 12-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Twins. The Phillies now hold the longest losing streak in baseball, and the Cubs will seek to extend it to nine games this afternoon. Story gives me chills whenever I think about it: Ben Brown... Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:18:57 GMT Brett Taylor https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368616 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368616 false false The Philadelphia Phillies have gotten off to a slow start in the 2026 season, winning just eight of their first 24 games heading into Thursday’s series finale a Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:09:13 GMT Peter Dewey https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368487 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368487 false false The Cubs have found many different ways to win during their current eight-game winning streak. Blowouts (three straight games with 10+ runs). Extra-inning thrillers (over the Mets on Sunday). Winning despite leaving 17 on base (Tuesday). And Wednesday, a home run by a player who’s been struggling at the plate helped galvanize the offense. Michael […] Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:59:19 GMT Al Yellon https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368381 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368381 false false If the Chicago Cubs want to trade at the deadline this year, they may have to come to terms with losing prospect Jefferson Rojas, no matter how much it stings. Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:38:57 GMT Ryan O'Rourke https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368170 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368170 false false The Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) is in its first year, and I predict that the stats will be a big hit. They’re easy to calculate, needing only simple math, and have a nice little acronym borrowed from the automotive world. Over time, they will very likely evolve into something that players and agents can point … The post appeared first on . Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:36:36 GMT Duane Pesice https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368140 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368140 false false The new Automated Ball-Strike system has contributed to a spike in the Major League Baseball’s walk rate so far this season. Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:35:11 GMT David Brandt https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368135 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368135 false false Several afternoon matchups headline Thursday’s MLB action, though not every team will play with several squads traveling ahead of their weekend series. There ar Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:29:38 GMT Peter Dewey https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368071 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368071 false false What is weighted on base percentage, and why does anyone use it?View the full article Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:27:27 GMT Jeremy Tecktiel https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368049 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56368049 false false Cole Mathis, the Cubs' No. 14 prospect, picked up three RBIs to help the South Bend Cubs to a 16-10 series-opening victory over the Dayton Dragons. Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:22:07 GMT CBT847 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56367985 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56367985 false false No, Charlie most likely isn’t the goose’s name. But he had to know he wasn’t going to get hit by a ball from Michael Busch at the moment. Strong performance from Shota Tuesday. Good hitting. Timely hitting — despite stranding SEVENTEEN runners. Great to see Seiya’s first HR. Hope to see Palencia before too long. […] Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:45:30 GMT Jeff Brown https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56367645 https://sportspyder.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/articles/56367645 false false