ATLANTA -- Chicago Cubs rookie catcher Kyle Schwarber will get several starts per week behind the plate but won’t catch everyone in the rotation, according to manager Joe Maddon.
“We’ll try to pair him up as best we possibly can,” Maddon said Friday afternoon. “Try to give him a soft landing, catching-wise. I feel very good about him.”
Maddon revealed the plan for Schwarber after the team called him up to replace injured veteran Miguel Montero. Schwarber got the start in Friday’s game against the Atlanta Braves with starter Kyle Hendricks on the mound, but he won’t catch Jon Lester or Jake Arrieta in the final two games of the series.
“The other guys, he has a pretty good shot at,” Maddon said of Jason Hammel and Clayton Richard. “We want to make this as easy as possible.”
The simple feeling is that Lester and Arrieta have different needs and David Ross is already Lester’s catcher while veteran Taylor Teagarden has shown good rapport with Arrieta. Plus, Hammel, Hendricks and Richard are probably less complicated pitchers to figure out for a new catcher.
“I got a pretty good feel for these guys,” Schwarber said regarding working in spring training with some of them. “I’m confident. I feel like I can hold my own back there. It’s all about having confidence.”
Maddon said the decision to bring Schwarber up came down to his minor league coaches deeming him ready for big league catching duties. Schwarber got the call on Tuesday, 30 minutes outside of Des Moines, Iowa, as he was returning from winning MVP of the Futures Game. On Wednesday morning he turned around and drove back to Chicago to join the Cubs before they left for Atlanta and a second-half push for the playoffs.
“I was real excited in the car,” Schwarber said. “Nice to have alone time in the car.
‘I’m here to help the team compete for a playoff spot.”
For now, he’ll have to help from behind the plate starting several days a week and coming off the bench -- but not in the outfield. Maddon said there are no immediate plans to play him there “unless it’s necessary.” There could be a time when he gets pregame work in left field but right now the Cubs want him focusing on catching and, of course, hitting. Maddon had him batting second in his first game back. He dropped Anthony Rizzo to cleanup with Kris Bryant hitting third.
“There could be a windfall of RBIs batting behind those guys,” Maddon said regarding Rizzo.
So that’s the plan for Schwarber while Montero recovers from a thumb injury. Some might believe the rookie will never give the job up as he joins an unheard of situation: A contending team starting four first-year players in Game 1 out of the All-Star break.
Winning is slowly overtaking development for the Cubs.
“I plan on being up here for as long as I can be,” Schwarber said. “I’m going to be ready for it.”
