The Hardest-Working Paper in America | 
Saturday, April 20, 2024
News Sports Cubs

Cubs spin leadoff carousel as Albert Almora Jr. takes turn at the top

By  Gordon Wittenmyer
   
SHARE Cubs spin leadoff carousel as Albert Almora Jr. takes turn at the top
screen_shot_2017_08_12_at_8_47_06_pm.png

Almora

Albert Almora, who entered Saturday hitting .346 with a .976 OPS against left-handers, became the Cubs’ 10th leadoff hitter this season.

“It is unusual,” Maddon said of the high number of leadoff men since Dexter Fowler left as a free agent. “But I’m OK [with it]. The guys have all responded to it pretty well.”

Subtracting the failed six-week leadoff experiment with Kyle Schwarber, the other Cub leadoff men combined to hit .251 with a .322 on-base percentage, .784 OPS and 50 runs scored.

Cubs’ leadoff men this year:

  • Kyle Schwarber
  • Ben Zobrist
  • Jon Jay
  • Anthony Rizzo
  • Ian Happ
  • Jason Heyward
  • Javy Baez
  • Willson Contreras
  • Matt Szczur
  • Albert Almora Jr.

RELATED STORIES

Gimme a break! Maddon no fan of Cards game during ’18 All-Star ‘break’

Addison Russell probe in 3rd month; agent anticipates SS being cleared

Next Up In News
Netflix looks to curb password sharing, considers ads
Aiming to predict COVID, future pandemics better, CDC opens infectious diseases forecasting center
Joliet farmers wrangle cows thrown from semitrailer after crash on Interstate 80
1 killed, 3 wounded in shootings Tuesday in Chicago
Obama relatives sue Milwaukee school alleging racial bias
Unmasked transit: Pritzker ends mask mandates in public transportation, airports
The Latest
Screen Shot 2024-04-17 at 11.57.01 PM.png
White Sox
Bettors knew White Sox would be bad, but they’re worse than expected
Bet on it: Don’t expect Grifol’s team, which is on pace to challenge the 2003 Tigers for the most losses in a season, to be favored much this year
By Rob Miech
 
TT Still 6.png
Columnists
Watch and learn: Chicago Palestine Film Festival aims to entertain, educate
Not all filmmakers participating in the 15-day event are of Palestinian descent, but their art reclaims and champions narratives that have been defiled by those who have a Pavlovian tendency to think terrorists — not innocent civilians — when they visualize Palestinian men, women and children.
By Rummana Hussain
 
dear-abby-12880069-e1420416724734-650.jpg
Dear Abby
Dear Abby: Decades after their ugly divorce, my parents still keep bringing it up
Dad just disclosed an intimate detail that could prolong the blame game over the breakup.
By Abigail Van Buren
 
Burnham Prairie - Landscape Wetland - Jul19 3.JPG
Editorials
Illinois wetlands deserve protection. Lawmakers should make that happen, while there is still time.
State lawmakers can pass legislation that would restore the safeguards the U.S. Supreme Court removed last year on wetlands, which play a key role in helping to mitigate the impact of climate change and are critical habitats for birds, insects, mammals and amphibians.
By CST Editorial Board
 
A building crane near three partially demolished buildings.
Letters to the Editor
Mayor Johnson's bond plan should address vacant CHA land
Twenty years after the city and CHA demolished high-rise public housing developments, there are still 130 acres of vacant land and buildings at several CHA redevelopment sites.
By Letters to the Editor