Chicago Cubs update: Michael Conforto, Michael Busch, Shōta Imanaga

Shōta Imanaga is dominant again

Imanaga is flashing the form that got him an All-Star selection and fifth place in Cy Young voting in 2024. It seems clear that he had never fully recovered last year from the hamstring injury. Now 100 percent healthy, Imanaga has a 28.3 percent strikeout rate and just a 7.0 percent walk rate.

He’s also getting tons of swing-and-miss. ranking seventh in MLB with a 32.8 percent whiff rate, which is notable given that Shōta doesn’t throw 95+ like everyone else on the list ahead of him.

Here are his 10 Ks against the Reds last Thursday [VIDEO].

Honorable mention to Ben Brown for his four no-hit innings against the Rangers on Friday.

Three down

What is going on with Alex Bregman?

Sometimes Bregman hits for a while — .333 /.400/.456 for a 13-game span from April 11-24.

And then he doesn’t — .174/.296/.217 (4-for-23) over the past week, though with four walks. His .328 season OBP does provide some value, but he’s got just five doubles, a triple and three home runs in 159 at-bats. That’s not the guy the Cubs thought they were getting.

Craig Counsell gave Bregman Sunday off. Hopefully the extra day will help him reset.

He’s still solid at third base. Check out this slick play he made last Wednesday [VIDEO].

Moisés Ballesteros is in an awful slump

The Cubs DH/catcher (mostly DH) started the season out hot, so much so that it was hard to remember that he’s just 22 years old.

The league appears to have adjusted to him. He was 0-for-16 over the week and Sunday, he struck out three times (okay, so those were all by Jacob deGrom, a very tough pitcher).

Ballesteros can hit, no question about it. But he will now also have to make adjustments. If he can’t, I would not be opposed to sending him to Triple-A Iowa for a short time, if for nothing else than to help him get his confidence back.

Edward Cabrera got hit pretty hard

Cabrera made two starts during the week and allowed 16 hits and three walks over 11 innings (1.727 WHIP), and eight earned runs (6.55 ERA). He did strike out 14, and overall has a 22.4 percent K rate, down a bit from his 25.8 percent rate a year ago. I still think Cabrera is a perfectly solid starter and he’ll be fine.

Here’s an interesting thread about Cabrera. Worth keeping an eye on these things.

Perhaps the Cubs are trying to manage his workload in a way that will keep him healthy this year, which has been an issue for him in the past. As always, we await developments.