Cubs Insider · Jul 4, 2018
Journeyman Righty Anthony Bass Has Hooked with Cubs by Avoiding Walks
Pop quiz, hotshot: Which team’s bullpen has the highest BB/9 mark in baseball? If you said the Cubs, you’re wrong, though their 4.39 is only one hundredth of a point below Atlanta. On the other side of that coin, the Cubs’ cumulative 8.99 K/9 ranks only 13th in the majors. Not exactly in keeping with the front office’s goals heading into this season.
“[W]e have to find a way to address [the high bullpen walk rate] going forward, and we will,” Theo Epstein said back in October of last year, even before the season had officially ended. “Some of it is obviously personnel based, and it will be important for us to bring in some reliable strike-throwers going forward out of the pen.”