NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Barring a surprise acquisition, Kyle Schwarber could be in the mix to share the Cubs’ leadoff spot vacated by departing free agent Dexter Fowler, manager Joe Maddon said Tuesday.
The manager said his options include the switch-hitting veteran Ben Zobrist (.330 on-base percentage in 155 career games leading off), the lefty-hitting Schwarber (who otherwise is the likely No. 2 hitter) and newly signed, lefty backup outfielder Jon Jay (.344 OBP in 179 games in the leadoff spot).
“A couple years ago when Kyle came up and Dexter was still there, I considered leading Kyle off and putting Dexter second,” Maddon said. “But I had all our nerds do the [analytics] work, and they really liked Fowler one and Schwarber two just based on the data. So I went with that and it worked out well.”
Schwarber batted leadoff twice during that 2015 rookie season, going 3-for-8 with a double.
“Now all of a sudden, Dexter is not there anymore,” Maddon said. “It’s not impossible to consider Kyle in that spot or Zobrist in that spot. I don’t know if we can do anything in this offseason that might cause me to think differently, but there are not a lot of other candidates. You could consider Jon Jay. I don’t see Albert [Almora Jr.]. I don’t see [Javy] Baez.”
Notes: Chairman Tom Ricketts and the Cubs’ baseball operations department were honored as Baseball America’s Organization of the Year during the publication’s annual banquet Tuesday night.
