Alex Bregman is a lot of things.
He’s a Gold Glove third baseman. He’s a Silver Slugger at the plate.
He’s an All Star. He’s a World Series champion. He’s the Cubs’ $175 million man.
But he’s also, sometimes, an impromptu pitching coach.
“He’s an outstanding resource, not only for our position players but also for our pitchers. Just an extremely high baseball IQ guy,” relief pitcher Phil Maton told the Sun-Times on Wednesday. “I don’t know if anyone truly puts in more work off the field with scouting than he does. He’s coming in here giving me scouting reports for how to pitch guys.
“I’m like, ‘I don’t even know how you had time to do that. You’ve got to prepare to hit against 13 arms.’ And he’s over here like, ‘You need to do this to this guy if you face him.’
“If he sees something that might help our pitchers, I think it’s great he’s telling guys, ‘This is what I see.’ It might make a big out in a game today.”
While descriptive of Bregman’s behind-the-scenes impact, that anecdote will only go so far toward swaying the opinions of frustrated fans who might not think Bregman is living up to his contract. The Cubs are in the middle of a nasty stretch, coming into Wednesday losers of 17 of their last 22.
The offense has looked broken, and the lack of power production from Bregman is among the concerns. He only hit five homers and drove in 19 runs in his first 60 games as a Cub. He’s also been one of the few productive Cubs hitters of late, hitting .303 with a .361 on-base percentage over his final 18 games in May, a stretch that included an 11-game hit streak.
But Bregman stepped into his Cubs tenure as more than just a bat. He brought with him a reputation as a strong clubhouse presence, and the reviews are as good as anyone could have hoped for.
“He can’t wait for the next day to come, good or bad,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s never going to change with Alex. That’s just who he is.
“He’s mad when the game’s over. Even if he’s having a bad game, he’s upset the game’s over. He’d like to keep playing. That’s just who he is. That’s a great trait, and I think everybody feels it.”
Maton has seen this before. He and Bregman were Astros teammates for three years, a stretch that included a World Series win in 2021.
Now Maton is seeing it again, and it’s impressing him even more this time.
“Honestly, I think he’s grown a little bit more,” Maton said. “We had a really good clubhouse in Houston, we had a lot of guys. I don’t know if this is [what happened] when he went to Boston or when he came here, but he’s really grown into just becoming ‘the guy.’”
Bregman’s status as the player who got the Cubs to finally shell out big free-agent bucks brings the expectations that he will be “the guy” for this team.
Maton believes that’s coming – “I know it’s going to turn for him, I don’t question that for a second” – and in addition to speaking from the experience of playing alongside him, he can speak from the experience of trying to get Bregman out.
The two have only faced off twice, most recently last season, when Maton induced a Bregman ground out. But the first time, Bregman struck with a walk-off single in extra innings.
“Even when he’s not producing at the level he’d like to be at, he’s always a tough at-bat,” Maton said. “[Even] when he’s going through it, you have to go out there and beat him in the zone. And that’s something that creates a ton of value. It puts a ton of pressure on the other team.
“I’m glad he’s on our side and I don’t have to deal with him this year.”
The Cubs hope headaches like that start piling up for opposing pitchers.
But no matter the on-field results, it seems the Cubs are getting what they paid for behind the scenes.
