The Chicago Cubs had a somewhat suspect start to the 2023 season, but they have been playing much better ball in the last couple of weeks.
As of Thursday afternoon, they are 36-38 with three consecutive victories and eight in their last 10 games.
They are trending up, and are just 3.5 games behind the Cincinnati Reds for the NL Central lead.
A big part of their recent success can be attributed to Marcus Stroman.
Ever since the season started, Stroman has taken the ball every five days and delivered a strong performance almost without fail.
That’s why he has a rock-solid 2.28 ERA to this point.
Part of his success stems from limiting hard contact with his sinker-split/change combination.
It has yielded amazing results, and the right-hander has conceded the lowest slugging percentage among qualified pitchers this year.
Lowest slugging percentage allowed
(2023 games, qualified pitchers):Marcus Stroman, .271 ?
Framber Valdez, .318
Shohei Ohtani, .324
Sonny Gray, .329
Joe Ryan, .330
Gerrit Cole, .331
Merrill Kelly, .333
Zack Wheeler, .343
Zac Gallen, .345 pic.twitter.com/5WQ8BNbBL3— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) June 22, 2023
Not only does he lead the aforementioned category, but the difference between his .271 slugging percentage and that of the next-best hurler (Framber Valdez, .318) is very large.
Stroman’s sinker is just so hard to square up that it almost always results in a ground ball.
Ground balls are the best type of batted balls a pitcher can induce.
They never go for home runs and rarely go for extra-bases.
That explains why the slugging percentage against Stroman is so low.
So far, with a little over three months left to play in the regular season, we can comfortably say that this is the best Stroman has looked in his very solid career.
He has given the Cubs ace-like performances every five days.
NEXT: Marcus Stroman Is On An Elite Run This Season
