When the Cubs signed veteran outfielder Mike Tauchman to a minor league deal again in January of final yr, the deal was barely a footnote in an offseason that noticed Chicago splurge on stars comparable to Dansby Swanson and Cody Bellinger as they tried to work their means again into the playoff dialog. Even the signings of veteran position gamers comparable to Trey Mancini and Eric Hosmer seemed to be extra related to the Cubs’ possibilities because the season bought underway, though accidents finally pressured the membership to pick Tauchman’s contract on Might 19, 2023. One yr to the day later, and the 33-year-old journeyman has emerged as some of the necessary items in Chicago’s lineup as they renew their efforts to return to the postseason for the primary time in a full season since 2018.
Tauchman is maybe greatest identified for his 2019 marketing campaign, when he loved a breakout season with the Yankees. The then-28-year-old journeyman had struggled via 69 plate appearances with the Rockies since making his huge league debut again in 2017, hitting simply .153/.265/.203 throughout that point, and was flipped to the Yankees in a minor commerce throughout Spring Coaching 2019. Regardless of his lack of success on the huge league degree, Tauchman acquired a chance with the Yankees midseason when accidents to Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton left a gap within the Yankees outfield alongside Brett Gardner and Aaron Decide. He made the many of the alternative and posted 3.1 fWAR in simply 87 video games as he slashed a whopping .277/.361/.504 with 13 house runs in simply 296 journeys to the plate.
Whereas his unbelievable efficiency in 2019 provided some hope that he was rising as an enormous league common, Tauchman would fall again to Earth over the subsequent two seasons. In 118 video games with the Yankees and Giants throughout the 2020-21 seasons, his energy manufacturing utterly evaporated, leaving him with a paltry .203/.306/.291 slash line regardless of a still-strong 12.3% stroll fee. Tauchman’s struggles in the end led him to move abroad to play out the 2022 season with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Group.
His 144-game stint in Korea went fairly properly, as he slashed a robust .289/.366/.430 in 648 journeys to the plate because the membership’s beginning heart fielder. On the heels of his robust efficiency, Tauchman tried his luck at returning to stateside ball in free company in the course of the 2022-23 offseason, though he in the end was unable to search out something greater than a minor league pact with Chicago. He held his personal in 21 video games with the Cubs throughout Spring Coaching, hitting a decent .225/.354/.400 in 48 journeys to the plate, however was in the end unable to crack the membership’s Opening Day roster even amid an damage to outfielder Seiya Suzuki because the Cubs as a substitute opted to make the most of Mancini and Miles Mastrobuoni in proper area to open the season.
Tauchman’s probability would come later within the season, when an damage to Bellinger and the deep struggles of Hosmer led the membership to position the previous on the injured record and designate the latter for project. With a gaping gap in heart area and solely Ian Happ batting from the left facet within the beginning lineup, the Cubs chosen Tauchman to the roster and put in him as a stopgap choice in heart area whereas Bellinger was on the shelf. Tauchman made the many of the alternative, nevertheless, and by the point Bellinger was able to return to the lineup in June Tauchman was reaching base at a .415 clip and taking part in robust sufficient protection in heart that the Cubs opted to quickly transfer Bellinger to first base so as to hold Tauchman’s bat within the lineup.
Tauchman remained one of many membership’s prime on-base threats all through the rest of the season, and ended the 2023 marketing campaign having eclipsed 100 video games performed and 400 journeys to the plate within the majors for the primary time in his profession. His ultimate slash line of .252/.363/.377 confirmed little energy in comparison with his .227 ISO throughout his 2019 marketing campaign with the Yankees, however his wonderful 14% stroll fee was second solely to Ian Happ amongst Cubs hitters and he managed to scale back his strikeout fee to simply 21.4%, a far cry from the 27% clip he had punched out at within the majors to that time in his profession.
The exhibiting was sufficient for Tauchman to not solely be tendered an arbitration-level contract for the primary time in his profession but additionally enter Spring Coaching assured of a spot on the Opening Day roster. Whereas the returning outfield trio of Happ, Bellinger, and Suzuki mixed with the addition of Michael Busch at first base appeared prone to push Tauchman out of the Cubs’s beginning lineup because the 2023 season started, a mixture of early-season accidents to Suzuki and Bellinger and supervisor Craig Counsell’s willingness to play Christopher Morel at third base regularly has opened up loads of alternatives for Tauchman to proceed to behave as a daily within the membership’s lineup this season.
As soon as once more, Tauchman has made essentially the most of his alternatives by delivering a good stronger begin than he did in 2023. In 43 video games with the Cubs this season, the 33-year-old is slashing a superb .257/.375/.407 in 168 journeys to the plate. He’s seen his stroll fee tick as much as a whopping 14.9% that’s good for seventh amongst all certified regulars in MLB this yr, whereas his strikeout fee has held regular at 21.4%. Most excitingly, Tauchman has even managed to point out a bit extra energy than he did in his first season with Chicago; he’s already clubbed 4 homers and 9 doubles after managing simply eight homers and 18 doubles all through the whole 2023 marketing campaign.
All that provides as much as a superb 130 wRC+ that leaves Tauchman tied with Bellinger for fortieth place amongst all MLB regulars and first amongst all Cubs hitters this season. It’s been a very exceptional pair of seasons for Tauchman in Chicago, and if he can proceed to supply at this type of degree the Cubs could have loads of robust choices on their fingers with prime outfield prospects comparable to Pete Crow-Armstrong and Owen Caissie knocking on the door of the majors. Whatever the end result of these choices, Tauchman has accomplished sufficient over the previous calendar yr to guarantee himself continued alternatives on the huge league degree whilst he enters his mid-thirties in a exceptional turnaround for a participant many had written off as a one-season marvel half a decade in the past.
