Chicago Cubs Lineup (4/8/26): Hoerner Against Leading Off Against RHP, Rea Starting
Last night was a fun one for the Cubs, who broke out the bats early and scored in six different innings to even the series against the Rays. Now they have a chance to pick up a win heading into an off day and then a weekend series back at home against the Pirates. Playing .500 baseball isn’t good enough for this team, but it’ll have to suffice for now.
Colin Rea is tasked with filling in for Cade Horton, who will undergo season-ending surgery to repair the UCL in his right elbow. That makes two years in a row for Rea, who is no stranger to Tommy John surgery himself. The righty missed much of 2016 and all of ’17 due to elbow reconstruction, uncovering some shady practices by the Padres in the process.
Rea was traded to the Marlins at the deadline and made just one start for them, exiting early with elbow discomfort. It was discovered that San Diego had kept two sets of medicals on players and that they’d given the Marlins clean ones on Rea, resulting in him being sent back to the Pads. Fun times. He’s been a consistent swingman since returning to MLB from Japan in 2023, which is huge for a Cubs team that has faced its share of pitching injuries.
Regardless of what Rea does on the mound, the offense needs to continue to score runs in bunches. They have almost the same lineup as last night, with Nico Hoerner in the leadoff spot once again with a righty on the mound. Michael Busch bats second, Alex Bregman bats and plays third, and Pete Crow-Armstrong cleans up in center. Carson Kelly is behind the plate, Moisés Ballesteros is the DH, Dansby Swanson plays short, Michael Conforto is in left, and Matt Shaw is in right.
Ian Happ is out for the second game in a row, which no doubt pleases a lot of folks who only look at batting average, to rest a bruised left heel. He is available off the bench and should be good to go against the Pirates.
The Cubs’ bats were steaming hot yesterday, but now they might need to change things up to throw some cold water on Joe Boyle. The 26-year-old righty looks like a completely different pitcher from just three years ago, as he’s gone from an extreme over-the-top arm angle of 53 degrees to a low three-quarter 26-degree angle this year. Only 15 righties threw from a higher slot three years ago and only 30 throw from a lower one now. I don’t think you’ll find a bigger change in any pitcher over the same period, maybe ever.
Boyle’s arm angle dropped markedly in 2025, his first season with the Rays after being acquired from the Athletics. His repertoire also shifted dramatically, as he went from being a fastball/slider guy with the occasional curve to ditching the hook altogether while incorporating a splitter in 2025. He has added a sinker and sweeper this year, and has dialed the fastball back to around 21% from nearly 60% earlier in his career. The slider is up to almost 34% so far, making it his favorite weapon by a wide margin.
One byproduct of Boyle’s lower slot is a drop of about 2 mph in his four-seam, from almost 99 mph last year to a little under 97 mph through his first two starts. FanGraphs will tell you his slider is also down from last year, but that’s more about them lumping the 85 mph sweeper in with it to bring the aggregate velo down. It might seem counterintuitive in today’s game to want less velocity, but the tradeoff for Boyle — at least so far — is a much lower walk rate.
He’s handing out free passes at a 6.5% clip, less than half of his career average of 13.6%, and his 28.3% strikeout rate is higher than it’s ever been. While those numbers are obviously subject to big changes over the remainder of the season, it’s fair to say the Rays know what they’re doing when it comes to pitching development. As someone who breaks opposing pitchers down somewhat obsessively for these previews, I must say I’m fascinated by Boyle’s transformation.
Just look at his movement profile charts from 2023 and this season. Even though we’re only talking about 16 and 11.1 innings, respectively, it’s a great look at how his stuff has evolved to fit his arm slot. A tip of the hat to MLB.com’s Mike Petriello for bringing this to my attention yesterday.
It’s clear that he was chasing vert, as the kids say, earlier in his career, but he obviously wasn’t getting the kind of results that would keep him in the bigs. Despite big strikeout numbers, his walk rate and narrow pitch mix meant he was getting roughed up more often than not. Look at how he’s gone from that cut-ride heater to a more standard profile that actually has a little sink. He’s able to tunnel that with his splitter to left-handed hitters, then he throws the sinker predominantly to righties.
It’ll take time for the splits to even out, but this approach seems to be far more sustainable moving forward. That lower slot should be better for the health of his shoulder, and it’ll also create some uncomfortable looks for right-handed hitters. Did I mention that Boyle is 6-foot-8? Well, he is. Though he’s not quite Randy Johnson, locating that slider up and in to righties from that angle means they’re forced to hang in against a ball that looks like it’s coming at their face.
The sweeper comes in a little lower, so we’re talking about a lot of front-hip action. Then he can bring the splitter and sinker in on their hands at 93-96 mph. It’s no wonder those guys are batting .100 with a .091 wOBA against him so far. Again, those numbers can change in a hurry with one bad outing. Maybe the Cubs can be the ones to make them change.
First pitch is at 5:40pm CT on Marquee and 104.3 The Score.
Series finale!
Watch the game live on @WatchMarquee. pic.twitter.com/ZCAONvXBm6
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 8, 2026
