For nearly 20 minutes prior to Monday’s 7-3 win over the Nationals, manager David Ross and team leader Anthony Rizzo answered questions that solely focused on former Cubs pitcher Jon Lester.
After six hugely impactful seasons on the North Side, Lester toed the rubber as a visitor at Wrigley Field on Monday night. His return being a focus is hardly a surprise. The impact Lester had on the organization is clear for all to see. Before his arrival in 2015, the Cubs were largely only associated with a century of futility. The Lovable Losers are no more and Lester’s signing was a major factor.
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“He’s a big reason why this franchise turned into a winning franchise,” Rizzo said. “(He’s) why you guys are writing why are we not as good as we should be. That reason is because of Jon Lester and how he came and changed the culture.”
Ross stopped before almost suggesting that a winning attitude wasn’t around Wrigley Field until Lester showed up, but he wouldn’t have been that far off base. There was a reason Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and the entire Cubs front office gathered in the lobby bar of the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego late that December evening in 2014. The group did a celebratory toast in honor of bringing the lefty into the fold, and the newly hired Joe Maddon did a victory lap around the lobby, chatting with various media outlets about how significant the addition of Lester was.
Cubs fans appreciate Lester’s impact and the 37-year-old lefty deserved every second of the long ovation he received when he took the mound in the bottom of the first Monday evening and again when he led off the third inning. Without him, perhaps 2016 doesn’t happen. Without him, it’s unlikely that Ross is in the position he holds or that the transformation of this franchise occurs.
But Lester also represents the past. Hoyer is trying to build another contender, one whose core is still to be determined. But for fans looking for a glimpse of the future, a piece of hope to grab onto as they wait for another winner, he was there Monday evening as well.
Adbert Alzolay wasn’t at his best and his early-season issues with the long ball were once again on display, but he continues to look like a bright spot in an otherwise troubling rotation for the Cubs. Alzolay is one of only 13 starters with at least 30 innings pitched who have a walk rate under 5 percent. This after he entered the season with a career walk rate of 15 percent. Of those 13 pitchers, only nine, including Alzolay, have a strikeout rate above 25 percent.
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On Monday, the young righty faced a pesky Nationals team that strikes out at a lower rate than all but two teams in baseball. Washington puts the balls in play and rarely swings and misses, and with Alzolay not at his best, he went to the sinker at times where he may have normally gone to his trusty slider, which he didn’t seem to have a feel for. Two Nats, Trea Turner and former Cub Kyle Schwarber, connected on those sinkers, sending them into the seats to keep the game close.
“I thought he wasn’t as sharp today,” Ross said. “There was a lot of the two-seamers leaking back, the velo was down a tick on both pitches, the slider looked a little flatter, he wasn’t using it as much, I didn’t see the depth on the slider that he normally has.”
Alzolay threw just 63 pitches over five innings of work, giving up just three runs, but Ross didn’t like the idea of sending him back out to face Juan Soto, Josh Bell (who had two opposite-field singles against him, both on two-seamers) and Schwarber. Both Alzolay and catcher Willson Contreras agreed with Ross’ assessment. All pointed to the slider, a pitch Alzolay has dominated with early on this season, as not looking like the offering they’ve grown accustomed to of late.
Alzolay threw the pitch 27 times and got just two swings and misses. He entered the night with a 41.6 percent whiff rate on the pitch, 12th among eligible starters.
“At the beginning, I don’t know, I just didn’t feel comfortable with my slider I guess,” Alzolay said. “It was just floating in there. We keep attacking with fastballs and made a couple mistakes there leaving the ball on the plate and got those homers.”
Alzolay did strike out three batters, two of them looking, and walked none. He was able to largely limit the damage by keeping the Nationals on the ground, inducing 11 groundouts. One area of growth Alzolay needs to show is limiting the long ball. He’s given up eight on the year and his 24.2 percent home run to fly-ball ratio is the eighth highest in the game. However, his strong 0.89 WHIP has helped him largely limit the damage.
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But Alzolay continues to grow and learn each time out. Monday was no different. One of Ross’ points of emphasis this season has been encouraging pitchers to compete. Far too often, this younger generation of pitchers has leaned on the technology they’ve used to help develop various advantages over the years. But during the games, they can’t turn around and look at a screen after every pitch and see their data, confirming whether their stuff is playing as it should.
Alzolay knew from the get-go that he didn’t have his best stuff, but he was able to keep his team in the game and give the Cubs a chance at another win.
“I feel that as a pitcher, you’re always going to have those days,” Alzolay said. “You don’t have your best stuff, but for me, I learned a lot today. It was huge for me to keep competing, keep making pitches and give the team those five innings.”
For the Cubs to turn into a great team once again and not have to wait through another long rebuild, Alzolay’s continued growth feels essential. The lack of pitching development in this organization has been a topic for years, but names like Alzolay, Justin Steele and Keegan Thompson are trying to shift that narrative.
“He competes and for me, that’s number one,” Lester said. “I don’t care how good of stuff you have. I need you to go out there and toe that rubber and if you don’t have your best stuff that night, I need you to figure out a way to win the game. It was pretty cool to go against him, unfortunately on the other side. But it’s nice to see when the young kids, the uber prospects, get called up and to have success and keep building on that. Hopefully, he has a long big league career.”
On Monday night, Alzolay saw firsthand what winning a championship in this city can do for a player. It didn’t bother him that fans cheered the opposition. Both Schwarber and Lester earned those moments.
“It tells you how much this city loves their players,” Alzolay said. “I feel that whenever you do something good for this team and this city, the fans are always going to get (your back) no matter what. That standing ovation for Schwarber and Jonny Lester was well-deserved. Those two guys are legends here.”
Someday, Alzolay wants to earn those moments for himself as well.
“So bad, you don’t even know,” he said. “I can’t wait to be in those moments in the postseason. Find a way to help this team to keep winning.”
(Photo: Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images)
