Sophomore slump far from minds of young sluggers
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Joe Charboneau once ate six cigarettes to win a bet. He opened beer bottles with his eye socket. And drank the beer through his nose with a straw.
He also became just the third player to hit a ball into the third deck in left field at Yankee Stadium, during the 1980 season in which he won the Rookie of the Year Award as the Cleveland Indians left fielder.
He played 70 more games in the majors and was out of professional baseball within four years.
Two decades later, 2002 Rookie of the Year Eric Hinske — now the Cubs’ assistant hitting coach — told media upon receiving the award, “Hopefully, I can avoid the sophomore slump.”
Instead, injuries hampered his 2003 season, his OPS falling by 80 points and his WAR by more than half before he rebounded in subsequent seasons. So what? So one of the biggest reasons so much is expected of the Cubs this year is also one of the bigger uncertainties.
Four 2015 rookies who were major contributors to the Cubs’ surprising 97-win season make up the bulk of a celebrated young hitting core and are expected by many to pick up where they left off and help slug the team into the World Series.
Kris Bryant was a unanimous Rookie of the Year. Addison Russell looks like a potential Gold Glove shortstop with some pop. Kyle Schwarber, who debuted at midseason, hit a club-record five postseason home runs. And Jorge Soler might hit the ball harder than any of them.
But even one of this group’s biggest supporters has a message for the big-assumption crowd.
“I still expect some bumps in the road this year from all of them,” manager Joe Maddon said. “I fully expect a lot of them to struggle this year at some point. But two or three years from now when they’ve really figured the league out and really take their position among majorleague baseball players, heads up.”
What that might mean for one of the most anticipated seasons in franchise history, which opens Monday against the Angels, is this: As with everything else in baseball, there are no guarantees.
Cubs history is littered with bad, even tragic, sophomore stories after Rookie of the Year seasons: Kerry Wood going from 1998 superstar to 1999 surgery. Geovany Soto slumping and hampered by injuries in 2009. Ken Hubbs slumping in 1963, then dying in an offseason plane crash.
None of this means a four-man sophomore jinx should be expected to clobber the Cubs.
“The sophomore jinx is when they adjust to you and you don’t adjust back,” Maddon said. “How long does it take you to adjust back is what’s really pertinent there.”
Indeed, for every Charboneau, Mark Fidrych and Dontrelle Willis, there’s a Cal Ripken Jr., Derek Jeter and Mike Trout.
“I just kind of smirk at it,” Russell said of the concept. “This game is all about adjustments. Things are going to happen this year, good or bad. You’ve just got to keep grinding. I don’t feel like it pertains to me at all.
“I don’t think that pertains to any of us here because we want to get better. And the work ethic is always going to be there.”
Besides, say Russell and Bryant, they went through their sophomore slumps as rookies.
“Freshman slump,” Bryant said, smiling, referring to a 10-for-78 (.128) skid through Aug. 1 that lasted nearly four weeks. He hit .326 with 12 homers and a .973 OPS the rest of the season.
Russell took a 5-for-40 (.125) slide into the All-Star break before a leg-kick adjustment helped lead to a strong finish.
“Slumps and stuff, and the highs and lows, are all part of the game,” Bryant said. “And I’ve always embraced it and gotten through them and learned from them.”