Yesterday, the Cubs hired Anthony Iapoce to be the team's new hitting coach.
Before joining the Cubs, Iapoce spent three years in the same position with the Texas Rangers. How did his Rangers' teams hit compared to the Cubs? Below are two sets of tables, both representing the Cubs and Rangers' rank among all MLB teams in various hitting statistics. Any bolded number represents a stat that the Rangers were higher than the Cubs in. Take a look for yourself:
RANGERS 2016-2018 BASIC STATS
AVG | OBP | SLG | CONT% | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 23rd | 15th | 19th | 25th |
2017 | 26th | 19th | 15th | 28th |
2016 | 5th | 15th | 6th | 12th |
CUBS 2016-2018 BASIC STATS
AVG | OBP | SLG | CONT% | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 4th | 4th | 13th | 22nd |
2017 | 16th | 4th | 7th | 23rd |
2016 | 14th | 2nd | 10th | 24th |
RANGERS 2016-2018 ADVANCED STATS
MLB
wRC+ | oWAR | wOBA | OPS | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 22nd | 21st | 16th | 19th |
2017 | 22nd | 21st | 15th | 16th |
2016 | 19th | 19th | 10th | 10th |
CUBS 2016-2018 ADVANCED STATS
wRC+ | oWAR | wOBA | OPS | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 12th | 13th | 11th | 10th |
2017 | 9th | 10th | 5th | 6th |
2016 | 4th | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd |
Now obviously there are dozens and dozens of hitting stats, not all of which are represented here. But between the tradition statline (AVG/OBP/SLG), contact percentage, and four separate value-based statistics, you can get a good sense of each team's overall hitting profile.
It's also worth noting that over the last three seasons, the Cubs have had an overwhelming edge in player talent. Here's a per-year look at how many guys each team had in the Top-50 hitters (ranked by wRC+):
2016
Cubs: 4 (Bryant, Rizzo, Fowler, Zobrist)
Rangers: 1 (Beltre)
2017
Cubs: 2 (Bryant, Rizzo)
Rangers: 1 (Gallo)
2018
Cubs: 3 (Baez, Rizzo, Zobrist)
Rangers: 0
So it makes sense that the Cubs' hitting numbers would look better. They were one of the best offenses in 2016, a decent offense in 2017, and a middle-of-the-pack offense this last season. They've also won 290 games over that span. The Rangers over that time? 240.
Still, the results from Texas don't look great. Their 2016 stats look shiny (5th in AVG, 6th in SLG, 7th in RUNS), but a deeper dive reveals that the offense was probably mediocre at best. Is that the hitting coach's fault? Most likely not. Is it a good sign for a team that's already looking to improve what was a mediocre offense in the first place? The same answer applies.