Dietrich had a really odd 2019. He hit just .187/.328/462 over 306 plate appearances for the Reds. He struck out 74 times compared to just 28 walks, his on-base percentage was heavily boosted by the 25 times he was hit by a pitch, though that has been a trend for him throughout his career. Despite the poor average he did manage to put up a wRC+ of 102 showing the power and plate discipline/pitch magnet made him roughly a league average hitter.
He did post an obscenely bad .176 BABIP which he is almost guaranteed to see some sort of positive regression. His line drive rate was the lowest of his career, and not only that his .533 batting average on line drives was well below the league average of .687. It's a similar story with ground balls, his .115 average was well below the league average of .236.
His value comes in his ability to drive the ball. He 17 home runs in his first 153 plate appearances good for an ISO of .431 that would've been good for 6th all time if he had accrued a seasons worth of plate appearances.
Finding consistent playing time will be hard for Dietrich. He will probably end up spending most of his time in the field at second where he posted a +3 DRS through 355.1 innings last season.
This is a really shrewd move by the Cubs. If Dietrich can continue to show his power along with a positive regression in his batting average he could prove to be a very valuable hitter for a Cubs team that is looking for more firepower off the bench.
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