How the Cubs are filling Mike Tauchman’s spot in the lineup and on the roster as he lands on the IL
When the Cubs are winning and (more often) losing games by such slim margins, any injury is magnified. That was the case when outfielder Mike Tauchman landed on the 10-day injured list Tuesday with a strained left groin.
Tauchman was diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain, which likely will take about four weeks to heal, manager Craig Counsell said. To replace him on the active roster, the Cubs recalled utility player Miles Mastrobuoni from Triple-A Iowa.
‘‘Mike’s been a very consistent offensive presence for us, for sure,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘And that will be missed, absolutely. The left-handed bat, the ability to get on base, his ball-strike decisions are as good as anybody in baseball. And so that on-base component definitely will be missed.’’
Tauchman was leading the Cubs in on-base percentage (.359) and was second on the team in walk rate (12.9%) entering their game Tuesday against the Giants. He had been Counsell’s choice to lead off against right-handed starting pitchers for more than a month.
With Tauchman out, second baseman Nico Hoerner led off against Giants right-hander Logan Webb.
‘‘I’m hoping that Nico can take it, and . . . we can use this as an opportunity to really get Nico going,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘I think that’s really important for our offense, just to get him going as much as anything, regardless of where he hits in the lineup.’’
Hoerner was the Cubs’ every-day leadoff hitter from mid-April through early May and held on to the spot against left-handed starters — after a week on the bench with hamstring tightness — until he fractured his right hand a week and a half ago.
Hoerner has been batting sixth since returning from the injury, but Counsell said his hand is doing ‘‘pretty good.’’ Entering Tuesday, Hoerner was hitting .196 in the last six weeks.
The Cubs were limited in their options to replace Tauchman. Alexander Canario and Brennen Davis, the two outfielders on their 40-man roster at Iowa, are banged up. Canario left Iowa’s game Saturday with an injury, and Davis hasn’t played since June 11.
Asked whether the Cubs considered calling up a player who wasn’t already on the 40-man roster, Counsell said: ‘‘At this point, the way that the lineups were going, we were kind of sitting one of these guys every day. And so [we] really didn’t see opportunities for a lot of playing time.’’
He was referring to left-handed hitters Tauchman, first baseman Michael Busch and center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. With Tauchman out, most of his at-bats are expected to go to Busch and Crow-Armstrong.
The Cubs’ 40-man roster is full, so they would have had to clear a spot to add a player.
Before Tauchman’s injury, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer was asked about the merits of calling up a prospect such as outfielder Owen Caissie, who had hit five home runs this month through Monday.
‘‘There’s no question that we have a lot of upper-level bats that are performing at a very high level and, for their age, an exceptionally high level,’’ he said. ‘‘Certainly, we have those conversations. We talk about how they’re doing all the time and what’s left in their development. . . . But I don’t see any one young bat coming up here and sparking the offense.’’
Counsell was upfront with Mastorbuoni about his role from early on, making clear he would move back and forth between the Cubs and Iowa throughout the season. With sporadic major-league at-bats, he was hitting only .125 entering play Tuesday. But he was just starting to heat up at Iowa, going 10-for-17 there in his last four games.
Right-hander Keegan Thompson struck out the side in the ninth inning Tuesday for his first save of the season.
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