As a team last year the Cubs struck out 1,236 times, good for fourth in MLB. Unacceptable.

Below is a graph of current Cub players, I am excluding Lee who was second on the team last year in strike outs with 100, but adding Pena instead.

Chicago is going to have to realize the following during at bats:

1.       Whats the situation? Do they need to lay a bunt down, get a sac fly, a hit and run, etc. instead of going up there and just hacking away.

2.       Who’s pitching? What kind of pitches does this pitcher have?

3.       Look for a hitters pitch. Something where they could get good contact on.

I thought when the Cubs hired Rudy Jaramillo he was supposed to be the elite hitting coach out there. Looking at the amount of strike outs the Cubs had last year it looks like I could have done a better job being a hitting coach.

I’m not really worried so much about Castro striking out as much as he did due to his .300 avg. last season, plus he was just a rookie learning the league. However, Colvin was just a rookie too and struck out an alarming 100 times in just under 400 times. If I was Quade I would be more than willing to start Fukodome over Colvin. You would be sacrificing power from the Right Field position, but you get more consistency from that position with Fukodome.

What most worries me is Ramirez, Pena, and Soriano hitting back to back to back. Based off of last season’s numbers the fans will be feeling a good breeze behind home plate during the hot summer games.