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Contributed by: John Ontiveros
Many things have gone right with the Chicago Cubs early in the 2008 season. Alfonso Soriano had a week in which he proved, yet again, how he could carry a team on his back. Ryan Dempster is having a marvelous season after being a very hated Cubs’ closer. The Cubs offense has been much better than expected while showing power and patience. Among all the things happening with the Cubs, someone is really having a fine start to the season but he is so under the radar that his nickname hardly makes sense. Ryan Theriot, known as The Riot, has exploded to a great start of the season but is hardly making any headlines.
Ryan Theriot was looked at one of the worrisome parts of the Chicago Cubs team going into 2008. He had a pretty good year last year but really faltered in September as the Cubs positioned themselves for the playoffs. As late as August 26th of 2007, Theriot had a batting average of .288 with an on base percentage of .351. But as the season concluded, his average dipped to .266 with a paltry .326 on base percentage. But some fans believed Theriot might have just gotten tired after playing high energy ball for 5 months and was not used to rigors of a full major league season. Those fans might be correct.
Theriot has gotten off to a terrific start in this 2008 campaign. He entered Tuesday’s night game with a .333 batting average and a magnificent .410 on base percentage. After all the chatter of the Cubs not getting much production from the lead off spot, before Soriano’s explosion last week, The Riot has proved a constant on base machine at the top of the order all season long. In fact, Theriot has gotten on base in all but 4 games in which he has played in this season. He has also had 20 multi-hit games in the early goings. He also has walked 21 times while only fanning 17 times this year.
It hasn’t been all roses though for Theriot. He is having some trouble on the base paths as far as stealing bases. He leads the league in caught stealing as he has 9 steals in 16 attempts. This is a major part of his intrigue as far as the Cubs are concerned and he will definitely need to be better in this aspect. Another concern for many fans was that Theriot didn’t have the range to play Shortstop. While is range really left much to be desired last season, Theriot played a very solid Shortstop most of the year. Has anything changed this year? Theriot has improved his defense this year getting to more balls and showing a better arm. He has even been able to make a few spectacular plays in the hole this year. He might never be able to make the plays Jose Reyes or Derek Jeter make at Shortstop but he certainly doesn’t hurt the Cubs there as many fans think. He made only 8 errors last year and has only 3 errors so far this season.
The season can’t be as easy for Theriot as his play would seem to dictate. He has a resurgent Ronny Cedeno breathing down his neck for playing time. He doesn’t have full confidence of the fans as of yet. But if Theriot can continue to be productive and getting on base for the middle of the Cubs order, it’ll be hard for Cubs fans to not hear The Riot.
Many things have gone right with the Chicago Cubs early in the 2008 season. Alfonso Soriano had a week in which he proved, yet again, how he could carry a team on his back. Ryan Dempster is having a marvelous season after being a very hated Cubs’ closer. The Cubs offense has been much better than expected while showing power and patience. Among all the things happening with the Cubs, someone is really having a fine start to the season but he is so under the radar that his nickname hardly makes sense. Ryan Theriot, known as The Riot, has exploded to a great start of the season but is hardly making any headlines.
Ryan Theriot was looked at one of the worrisome parts of the Chicago Cubs team going into 2008. He had a pretty good year last year but really faltered in September as the Cubs positioned themselves for the playoffs. As late as August 26th of 2007, Theriot had a batting average of .288 with an on base percentage of .351. But as the season concluded, his average dipped to .266 with a paltry .326 on base percentage. But some fans believed Theriot might have just gotten tired after playing high energy ball for 5 months and was not used to rigors of a full major league season. Those fans might be correct.
Theriot has gotten off to a terrific start in this 2008 campaign. He entered Tuesday’s night game with a .333 batting average and a magnificent .410 on base percentage. After all the chatter of the Cubs not getting much production from the lead off spot, before Soriano’s explosion last week, The Riot has proved a constant on base machine at the top of the order all season long. In fact, Theriot has gotten on base in all but 4 games in which he has played in this season. He has also had 20 multi-hit games in the early goings. He also has walked 21 times while only fanning 17 times this year.
It hasn’t been all roses though for Theriot. He is having some trouble on the base paths as far as stealing bases. He leads the league in caught stealing as he has 9 steals in 16 attempts. This is a major part of his intrigue as far as the Cubs are concerned and he will definitely need to be better in this aspect. Another concern for many fans was that Theriot didn’t have the range to play Shortstop. While is range really left much to be desired last season, Theriot played a very solid Shortstop most of the year. Has anything changed this year? Theriot has improved his defense this year getting to more balls and showing a better arm. He has even been able to make a few spectacular plays in the hole this year. He might never be able to make the plays Jose Reyes or Derek Jeter make at Shortstop but he certainly doesn’t hurt the Cubs there as many fans think. He made only 8 errors last year and has only 3 errors so far this season.
The season can’t be as easy for Theriot as his play would seem to dictate. He has a resurgent Ronny Cedeno breathing down his neck for playing time. He doesn’t have full confidence of the fans as of yet. But if Theriot can continue to be productive and getting on base for the middle of the Cubs order, it’ll be hard for Cubs fans to not hear The Riot.
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