Things are getting a little frustrating with Chicago Cubs infielder Addison Russell as of late. After serving his 40-game suspension earlier this season, Russell returned to the Cubs but hasn’t really made that much of a positive impact with his bat or in the field.
Instead, Russell’s play has been frustrating at times, most recently this past weekend in a series vs. the San Diego Padres when he managed to do all of this in just one game:
The Cubs won Saturday’s game but Russell’s struggles didn’t go un-noticed by manager Joe Maddon. Following the game, Maddon commented on Russell and it uh, didn’t sound like he was too happy.
Here is what Maddon said per NBC Sports Chicago:
“He’s gotta straighten some things out,” Maddon said. “He has to. There’s no question. I’m not going to stand here — he’s got to, we’ve talked about his baserunning in the past.
“… The baserunning, there’s some things there — we’re making too many outs on the bases and we’re missing things on the bases that we can’t to be an elite team.”
Following Monday’s loss to the San Francisco Giants in which Russell came in as a defensive replacement, the infielder talked about his struggles and why he’s going through it.
Russell told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers that it’s all on the mental side and that he needs to get better at things including slowing down the game. But quote comment is the one that is alarming:
“Also, not missing signs, as well [is something to work on]. Stay on top of those. Remind myself, I need to become more familiar with the signs, as well. So there’s no gap there. You know exactly what’s being put on so you can do your job more efficient …. At the plate and on the bases. Just being aware … I haven’t played as much as I’ve liked to play, but it’s no excuse for not being in the moment. You have small mistakes like that, and it’s definitely something you can be better at. Especially from the mental side.”
Wait, what? How does a guy that has been with the organization for four years not know the signs or struggle this much? It’s not like Russell just joined the organization ahead of the trade deadline either.
While he addressed the situation, it’s a very alarming result.
Yes, missing sign and other mental mistake doesn’t help. I think the other side to this problem is his lack of playing time. There are players like Rizzo who is struggling, but the sports talking head are saying give him time to workout his issues. Somehow I feel that the ten is a double standard being applied. Either trade him and eat his salary or give a chance to work out the kinks in his game.