Even when he’s struggling at the plate, David Bote can’t help but come up with big hits for the Cubs.
“He has that ‘it’ factor,” Ben Zobrist said following Bote’s walk-off solo shot on Friday to help the Cubs top the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 in 10 innings.
Bote now has five home runs in his rookie campaign, all of which have either tied the game or put the team ahead. Three of them were dramatic ninth-inning blasts: the one he hit on Friday, his unforgettable walk-off grand slam against the Washington Nationals on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” and a big two-run homer to tie things up against the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 26. Even his two-run homer in Detroit on Wednesday felt big. The Cubs were coming off five straight games in which they’d only scored one run, all of them on solo homers, so Bote’s shot was like a weight being lifted off the team’s back.
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“This is one of those habitual things we’ll take,” manager Joe Maddon said. “Wow, didn’t miss it. The thing is, when the pitcher makes a mistake like that, you don’t take it, you don’t foul it off, you just can’t miss it. It was a hanger and he didn’t miss it.”
After the Cubs blew a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning, Bote came up in the 10th and quickly fell behind Reds closer Raisel Iglesias 0-2. But Iglesias left a breaking ball up and on the inside part of the plate, and as Maddon said, Bote didn’t miss it, launching a screeching line drive 431 feet, over the left-field bleachers.
“Just hunting spots, hunting pitches,” Bote said. “I was able to get a barrel on it.”
Maddon has talked a lot about how Bote has a keen ability to find the barrel more often than not, and he showed that once again. Entering the day, Bote was second in baseball (minimum 50 results) with a 95.1 mph exit velocity, sandwiched between sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. And that’s Bote mired in a bit of slump, as he entered the day with just one hit (the homer against the Tigers) in his previous 27 plate appearances.
“He hasn’t changed, he doesn’t change,” Maddon said of Bote’s demeanor during this rough patch. “He’s very confident, which is a good thing. He’s going through that moment right now where the league has had a chance to dissect him a bit and he’s gotta respond to that. And he will.”
Bote admitted that it’s not easy at times, saying he was a little annoyed with himself after his first at-bat of the day. He saw three sinkers, all below the zone, swung at each of them, fouling one off and swing through the other two for a three-pitch strikeout.
“Everybody who knows baseball knew those three pitches were coming,” Bote said. “I knew those three pitches were coming. And I still couldn’t get them.”
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But Bote also understands this is all part of the process of being a big leaguer.
“It’s frustrating at times,” Bote said. “You know that’s happening. Every single guy in this game has gone through that. It’s not any different for me. Just being able to stay within yourself. I think I’ve pressed at times. Not necessarily mentally, but I think my body has taken over some things in certain situations.”
It seemed as though those struggles were continuing on Friday. But Bote capitalized on Iglesias’ mistake, and played the hero once again.
“It’s exciting every time,” said Bote, who at home plate was doused with a mysterious concoction that Javy Báez brewed in the dugout prior the home run. “There’s teammates celebrating there at home plate. I don’t know what was in the Gatorade bath, it smelled horrible. But it felt great. It’s fun.”
Bote shared that teammates had sensed his frustration and had offered words of encouragement, including recent arrival Brandon Kintzler.
“He said, ‘Dude, just be you. You belong here. Just be one of the guys. I can’t imagine how hard it is to come down from what happened against the Nationals. But you belong here and you’re a good player. Just stick to what you do,’” Bote said. “You know that and people can say that, but for whatever reason, when he said it, it clicked in.”
From the moment he arrived in Chicago, Bote has impressed those around him with the way he carries himself on and off the field. He talks about hitting the way an experienced veteran would and has done well to not let the daily grind of a major-league season sink him mentally. It’s something that led to him quickly fitting into a tight-knit group as his demeanor and play proved to everyone that he belonged.
“Impressions mean a lot to the team and he came up and made a good impression really quickly early on,” Zobrist said. “Everybody sees when a guy is really prepared and doing everything he can to get better every day. You see the eager nature that he has and wanting to be the best version of himself. You have to respect that. When it actually shows up in a game this early and he’s proving that he’s belonging, it’s when everybody starts believing. I think he always did. You can tell that he believed. If you don’t have that [confidence], then it’s not going to happen.
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“He knows what he’s trying to do, he thinks really well and he’s further ahead than most of us were at that time in our career. He’s also like a sponge. He remembers things very fast, it doesn’t take him long to learn. It’s already showing up and paying off for him.”
But it’s also not too hard to see how pitchers are changing the way they attack Bote — the heat maps show significantly fewer pitches in the zone. Pitchers had learned not to challenge him, especially with the fastball, as they’ve started upping their breaking ball usage. The percentage of sliders he saw early on in the season has doubled (from around 15 percent to above 30) since August 16. Obviously, that’s going to lead to more pitches out of the zone, fewer chances to barrel up balls and more outs. Bote hasn’t chased too much, but he just hasn’t had a chance to get ahold of too many pitches. That changed Friday when he finally saw a mistake and clobbered it.
“Pitcher made one mistake and he took advantage of it,” Zobrist said. “He’s been a hero for us recently. Hopefully he can keep doing that and we keep winning games.”
(Top photo: Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
