The Rundown: Baez Stays Hot, Homers Twice; Kyle Schwarber Could Be Up with Cubs This Season

It was kind of a bummer of a Memorial Day weekend for the Cubs, as they dropped 2 out of 3 to the Diamondbacks.

Heading into a series with Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta and Jason Hammel all on the hill, and not coming away with a series win is a huge disappointment. Even on the road.

Things don’t get any easier as the Cubs head back home to face a very talented Nationals team that is playing some pretty good baseball right now. And then they get one of the best teams in the American League, in the Kansas City Royals.

Sunday’s 4-3 loss was a lackluster game. Addison Russell had the day off — just a routine rest, Joe Maddon said — and Kris Bryant had his 12-game hitting streak snapped.

The Cubs ended the road trip at 3-3, which isn’t too bad. Time to continue to take care of business at home.

Baez stays hot

Javier Baez has been hot lately for Triple-A Iowa, and it continued on Sunday. In fact, he had one of his best games of the year.

Playing shortstop, Baez blasted two solo home runs and finished the game 2-for-4 with a walk.

Even with the Cubs wanting to ease Baez into the season, and not rush him, I have to believe he’ll be in Chicago sooner than later. If he keeps hitting like this, the Cubs simply won’t be able to keep him down much longer.

Kyle Schwarber up this season?

Last year’s first-round draft pick (fourth overall) Kyle Schwarber can flat-out hit. He’s putting up numbers at Double-A similar to what we saw from Kris Bryant.

But holding out on the idea that we may see Schwarber up with Cubs this season is just a pipe dream, right? Maybe not.

According to Patrick Mooney, when asked on Sunday whether Schwarber could help the Cubs this year, Joe Maddon replied: “It’s possible. Anything’s possible.”

The 22-year-old has 10 home runs and an OPS over 1.000 so far this year, and could most likely contribute at the big-league level right now.

“He’s definitely, definitely got the hitting chip,” Maddon said. “Every time I look up at the scoreboard at home, it’s like: Schwarber went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs. Even if it’s 1-for-5, it’s like a game-winning RBI.”

He had another three hits on Sunday.

This story should be very interesting to monitor, especially after all of the Kris Bryant drama from this offseason. Obviously if Schwarber was brought up this season, he would have spent much less time in the minors than Bryant did.

It’s definitely sounding like Schwarber as a late-season call-up is a possibility. If that’s the case, boy will that be fun.

Other notes

* After being hit in the hand on Saturday, Matt Szczur appears to be OK. He’s being considered day-to-day, according to Carrie Muskat.