How Christian Bethancourt's experience helped him get off to fast start with Cubs

Cubs catcher Christian Bethancourt liked the first pitch he saw and pounced. His second-inning, three-run homer blew the game open for the Cubs in Friday's 6-3 win over the Cardinals at Wrigley Field.

Bethancourt has four hits and is slashing .364/.417/.727 through his first four games as a Cub. Although he's not known for his hitting, he's immediately impacted the Cubs with his knowledge from playing 408 major-league games.

"He looks comfortable batting out there, but he's a great catcher," starter Javier Assad said through an interpreter. "He's really good, communicates really well. Just somebody that talks to you inning by inning."

Bethancourt's level of play, particularly at the plate, is unsustainable. But if the catcher can continue working well with the starting rotation, that could benefit the Cubs down the stretch of the season.

Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said he understands the difficulty of a team change midseason, particularly as a catcher who is inundated with information. Counsell said Bethancourt's fresh perspective can be refreshing for the team.

"What's helpful there is experience because it's a confidence to go a little against the grain or what's been successful," Counsell said.

'Make better outs'

Crow-Armstrong is in that liminal space in which most top prospects find themselves: He's too good for the minors, but he's struggling to find his footing at the major-league level.

That Crow-Armstrong is making more hard contact—even if they're outs—is progress. As the front office looks towards 2025, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer would surely want to see Crow-Armstrong finish the last two months of the season strong.

"Confidence is a thing, but you need experience, and you need to see hits fall for that," said Crow-Armstrong, who outfielder Mike Tauchman replaced in the ninth inning of Thursday's walk-off win. "The last couple of weeks, we've been talking about that a lot, but just certainly make better outs."

Crow-Armstrong said he's made some minor mechanical changes — trying to drive his swing with the backside — but ultimately, he's just continuing to experience through trial and error.

"There's things that I found that work since the minor leagues or high school or college," Crow-Armstrong said, "and then there's stuff that doesn't, and that's the stuff that you can focus on too much. Maximizing what you do well always kind of works in the end and that's still what I'm striving for."

Injury Updates

Injuries have stunted the development of young pitchers Jordan Wicks (right oblique strain), Hayden Wesneski (right forearm strain) and Ben Brown (left neck strain). The two were starting to emerge as viable starters for a Cubs team that has built up a formidable pitching rotation.

But as president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer looks to 2025, getting those two back and having them finish is not only paramount for the club as they finish out the regular season but also as the team heads into the offseason. Counsell said he expects Wicks, Brown and Wesneski to pitch again this season.

"I think Jordan's calendar is the most clear-cut in terms of like he's on a pretty clear calendar to get it back," Counsell said. "The other guy's calendar is a little more fuzzy."

Counsell said Wicks threw a live bullpen session Friday and will move to game situations at a minor-league affiliate