Just 30 minutes after acquiring Andrew Chafin from the Arizona Diamondbacks the Chicago Cubs have acquired another lefty reliever in Josh Osich from the Boston Red Sox. According to Jon Heyman the Cubs will be sending a player to be named later for Osich.
Osich, 32 in three days, has really struggled in 2020. He has posted a 5.74 ERA in 13 appearances and 15.2 innings pitched. He has given up an obscene six home runs while striking out 20 and walking five. Osich has been fairly effective against lefties as they have hit .231/.286/.462 in 28 plate appearances.
The lefty primarily relies on an 87 MPH cutter that he has thrown 47.6 percent of the time in 2020. Hitters have batter .229 off the pitch, but five of their hits off of it have been home runs. It's worth noting that the velocity has dropped over two MPH from where the pitch was in 2019, and that could be a reason for the amount of slugging off the pitch.
Osich is a guy that should have his exposure to right handed hitters to a minimum. He has held lefties to a .665 OPS throughout his career, but righties have destroyed him to the tune of a .892 OPS along with a significant decline in both his strikeout and walks numbers.
Overall it's a fairly disappointing deadline for the Cubs, but that was to be expected. Although they are in first place in their division, they ultimately face a very challenging path to the World Series as they would have to get through the Dodgers just to reach the Fall Classic.
No comments:
Post a Comment