Chicago Cubs Lineup (3/12/26): Busch at 1B, Swanson DH, Cabrera Starting
I got a really late start on this one and it’s only being carried by Mariners radio, so let’s just get right to it. Edward Cabrera will put his perfect ERA on the line as he takes the mound for the third time this spring. We should be careful not to speak too glowingly about his performance while at the same time cautioning against fear over what Jameson Taillon and Shota Imanaga have done, but Cabrera looks the part. If this continues into the regular season, his starts will be must-see TV.
We’re getting to the point in camp where the lineups have started to solidify a little bit, especially near the top, and that’s the case today with Michael Busch at first and Nico Hoerner at second. Ian Happ is in left, Dansby Swanson is the DH, and Carson Kelly does the catching. Dylan Carlson takes right, Chas McCormick is in center, B.J. Murray is at third, and Jefferson Rojas handles short.
On the mound for the Mariners is 26-year-old righty Emerson Hancock, who has nearly identical ERAs for this spring (4.91), last season (4.90), and for his career (4.81). More of a spot starter to this point, Hancock has a 96 mph fastball that actually serves as a secondary to his 84 mph slider. Then there’s his sinker, which is thrown slightly harder than the four-seam.
Maybe it’s just because he’s working on things in the Cactus League, but the slider is up to 38% of his repertoire after getting down under 15% last season. The sinker is down 15 points and the heater is up by 7-8, so my guess is that he’s trying to dial in the breaking ball(s). He threw both a slider and a sweeper last year, but they had very similar shapes and only varied by around three ticks in velo.
Considering that his run value on those pitches was in the 17th percentile, it makes sense that he’d be throwing them more in an attempt to better separate them from one another. Hancock throws from a 19-degree angle, lower than all but 11 other righties last year, so he gets a ton of sink and ASR on the hard stuff. That should make his breakers play up, but neither creates outlier movement. He’d actually be better off getting his gyro to have less horizontal break.
Again, I’m guessing that’s exactly what he’s trying to do. Or maybe it’s about getting more glove-side break on the sweeper. Whatever the case, he has very limited extension and needs to do a better job of creating awkward angles from that sidearm release.
First pitch is at 3:05pm CT.
