If the Cubs’ Willson Contreras isn’t the best-hitting catcher in baseball, you’ll never convince White Sox pitchers.
After he clobbered the hottest pitcher in baseball Wednesday night at Wrigley Field, they might start calling him The Chairman by the time the season’s over for the way he owns these guys.
Contreras almost singlehandedly knocked out Sox starter Lucas Giolito — who had won his previous eight starts (and nine decisions) — in the Cubs’ 7-3 victory with a first-inning grand slam, a third-inning solo shot and a fifth-inning walk.
Ball 4 in that trip to the plate was Giolito’s final pitch in the likely All-Star’s first loss since April 6.
Did somebody say All-Star?
Don’t look now, but Contreras is well on his way to becoming the National League’s starting catcher for the second consecutive All-Star Game, which would make him the first Cubs catcher to pull that off since Hall of Famer Gabby Hartnett in 1937.
His Sox dominance aside, playing at that All-Star level might have been more important this year to the fourth-year Cubs catcher than any other season in his career.
“I think it’s really important not only for me but for the team,” said Contreras, who hit his 14th and 15th home runs of the season. He’s second among NL catchers in homers, trailing the Brewers’ Yasmani Grandal.
Contreras, who also threw out Tim Anderson trying to steal third base for the first out of the fifth inning, has been one of the biggest success stories of the first half for the Cubs. He has been a critical part of their efforts to stay near the top of the National League Central. The victory put the Cubs back in first place, a half-game ahead of the Brewers.
“I’m able to enjoy every single second of every single game so far this season, not putting pressure on myself, just letting things happen,” Contreras said of his mindset and approach.
That was as big a part of bouncing back from the .169, two-homer, 41-strikeout finish over his final 45 games of 2018. It was a season that began with a big start and his first career All-Star selection.
Controlling his high-energy, high-passion emotions and working on the mental side of the game was a huge part of Contreras’ offseason after the tough finish to ’18.
“The only thing I can control at the plate is having a good at-bat,” he said. “I’m having a lot of good at-bats this year, I would say more than last year. That’s the key to why I’m having a good season so far.”
His last grand slam came May 11, 2018, against Sox starter Carson Fulmer in a two-homer, seven-RBI performance on his bobblehead day.
He homered in his first at-bat in the All-Star Game two months later.
But the second half was little more than a long, frustrating descent.
“It’s pretty rare that a guy goes through struggles like he did the second half of last year, and he says, ‘I learned a lot; I’m going to learn from this; the game has taught me a lot through my struggles,’ ” team president Theo Epstein said, “and then actually makes great adjustments and shows what he learned and takes a huge stop forward from the mental side of the game. That’s just really impressive for a 27-year-old.”
After his big game against Giolito, Contreras is hitting .370 with six homers, 19 RBI, a .429 on-base percentage and an .822 slugging percentage in 11 career games against the Sox.
With another shot at Giolito possibly coming in an All-Star matchup July 9.
