Chicago Cubs Lineup (5/13/25): PCA Leads Off, Ballesteros DH, Lopez at 3B, Brown Starting
The Cubs cruised to an easy win last night against the Marlins, using a big inning to provide all their scoring. It’s a good thing they were facing an inferior team because the offense seemed pretty lethargic outside of the outburst that included five of their eight hits. It helps that the Marlins did virtually nothing with their seven hits. There should be plenty of excitement tonight just because Moisés Ballesteros is making his MLB debut.
Ben Brown is on the bump and will take over the team strikeout lead from Matthew Boyd as long as he gets two punches, which is a safe bet. The big knock on Brown is that he doesn’t work very efficiently, as evidenced by his team-leading 16 walks. He has done a good job of limiting homers, so the extra baserunners haven’t hurt as badly as they otherwise could have.
My personal mission for the last year-plus has been to get Brown throwing his changeup more frequently, with a more recent focus on changing his grip. He appears to have done just that, as the data from his last two starts shows a pitch with decidedly less spin and more depth. Now we just need to see him throw it more than 2-3 times per game.
Maybe he’ll feel more confident in the reworked offering if the bats can spot him an early crooked number. Pete Crow-Armstrong remains in the leadoff spot playing center, then it’s Kyle Tucker in right, Seiya Suzuki in left, and Michael Busch at first. Carson Kelly is the catcher, Dansby Swanson bats sixth at short, and Ballesteros bats seventh as the DH. Nico Hoerner is at second and Nicky Lopez rounds things out at third.
They’re up against 25-year-old righty Valente Bellozo, who is starting for the fifth time this year after making 17 starts last season. Bellozo has somehow managed to maintain a 3.50 ERA despite walking 10 batters with only 14 strikeouts in 18 innings because he avoids hard contact as well as anyone. He does it in a decidedly contradictory fashion, however, limiting homers despite a high barrel rate and first-percentile ground ball rate.
Yet another backwards guy in a series of them the Cubs have seen lately, Bellozo throws his 85 mph cutter about 37% of the time. His 91 mph heater is next at 30%, then it’s sweeper (16%), split (8%), curve (5%), and change (4%). He’s got a relatively steep arm angle and generates a lot of cubs on everything, so it may just be a matter of just avoiding the sweet spot frequently enough to make up for what otherwise looks like very pedestrian stuff.
His very strong platoon splits are probably going to even out, as there’s no way Bellozo can keep holding right-handed batters to a .121/.211/.121 split with a .168 wOBA. Lefties have been 200-400 points higher across the board, so you have to figure things will even out before long. How about the Cubs get started on that tonight.
First pitch is at 6:40pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
