Tyler Chatwood Had Another Great Spring Training Appearance

Is it time to jump back on the Tyler Chatwood bandwagon??? The Cubs right-hander had another encouraging spring training appearance, throwing three scoreless innings against the Royals on Wednesday. He gave up three singles, but more importantly he produced two inning-ending double plays, but even more important Chatwood had his second straight outing without walking a batter. That's now eight innings in three spring training games and only one walk for Chatwood.

By comparison, last year in spring training Chatwood pitched in six games and walked 11 batters in 21.1 innings. Again, it's spring training, but Chatwood essentially had the yips in 2018, and now he's actually showing the ability to throw strikes, miss bats and get ground ball outs. That's exactly why the Cubs signed him to a three-year deal. And believe it or not, these may be spring training games, but they mean a little more to Chatwood after his awful season in 2018. Plus, it's not like he began this camp with a guaranteed spot on the Opening Day roster. So far, you have be encouraged by Chatwood's performance. Again, his stuff has never been doubted, but his control, which was below average before signing with the Cubs, turned into the worst in baseball last year. If his control can be just average or slightly better, then the Cubs might have something special with Chatwood in the bullpen. Of course, it's only been eight spring training innings, but you'd take this so far over more struggles. At the very least, it definitely improves his trade stock if Chatwood really has figured it out.