Cubs Hope Olt is Their Answer at the Plate

The Chicago Cubs are right where they have become accustomed to being, in the cellar of the National League Central division 9 games behind the first place Milwaukee Brewers after just 33 games of the season have been played.

However, it appears that Mike Olt the Cubs third baseman might be finding his stroke, which could help the Cubs offense. On Thursday, Olt hit the first grand slam of his career to help Chicago defeated their cross-town rivals the Chicago White Sox 12 to 5.

Thus far, Olt has close to as many home runs at six as he does singles at seven.

He called that stat unusual but he said he was starting to understand himself better as a hitter. He realizes what he must work on calling the first month of the season a difficult learning experience.

While the fans of the Cubs are fixated on Olt’s power and batting average that is currently below .200, Olt is not letting that bother how he plays. Last season for Olt was very tough during which he had problems with his vision, so a slow start to this season is not concerning him as it might other players.

Olt knows he starts slow and says that thus far it has not been good weather for hitting or hitters.

Chicago Cubs believers still believe in Olt, even though he has had difficulty hitting and getting consistent playing time over the past season. His fans and Cubs fans in general are hoping the third baseman’s best days have yet to come.

Olt said his approach was not good as he was swinging too often at bad pitches and always behind on counts. Now he said he has a new approach and was going to stick with that.

Olt’s power is undeniable. He hit is grand slam on Thursday on a 3-2 count during the eighth inning, which extended the Cubs three-run lead to seven. That hit was what defeated the White Sox.

During spring training, Olt hit the cover off the ball, but making contact has been his biggest issue since the season started. On Thursday, besides his grand slam, Olt struck out giving him 28 Ks in just 76 at bats.

The third baseman is not concerned at his point with his stats, especially his batting average of .184, even after his 2 hits on Thursday.

The biggest problem the slugger has is thinking too much while at the plate. He often gets behind in the count and is well above the average in the league for that stat.

Those who follow baseball know things usually do not work out too well for batters who are consistently sitting on a 0-2 or 1-2 count. However, at least the third baseman can fall back on the great power he has.

Chicago wants to find out if Olt will be one of its core players. Everyone knows he can hit the ball a mile, now they want to find out if he can hit it more frequently.

That will take time said Olt, as he cannot change things with just one swing. He wants to cut down on the number of stupid swings first and he knows that will bring about more swings like the one he used to hit the grand slam on Thursday.