Unbelievable Busch got fired from the team following a……
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MESA, Arizona Since Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly last routinely observed Michael Busch’s swing, not much has changed. Although Busch’s hands are arranged a little differently, his swing nevertheless appears capable of succeeding in the major leagues.
You should respond appropriately when a call does not quite go in your team’s favor. In the heat of the moment on Tuesday night, this Pirates fan did precisely that:
“It’s such an easy, compact, simple swing,” Kelly said.
Kelly saw that easy swing plenty of times as a hitting coach in the Dodgers’ system back in 2020, a year after Busch was drafted by Los Angeles. Busch was among the players at the Dodgers’ alternate training site, giving him a chance to keep working after the Minor League season was washed away.
This spring, Busch and Kelly have been reunited with the Cubs, who swung a trade with the Dodgers in January to land the highly touted hitter. In L.A., Busch’s path to the big leagues was blocked by multiple stars. With the North Siders, he is being given the chance to seize the starting job at first base.
“Everybody knew that he could hit, right?” Kelly said. “Some of the question was the defensive stuff — where was he gonna land? And I think this is a great, great situation for him.”
Right now, Busch is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 51 prospect in baseball. Since acquiring him from the Dodgers — along with righty Yency Almonte for a pair of prospects on Jan. 11 — both manager Craig Counsell and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer have said that Busch has nothing left to prove in the Minors.
The 26-year-old moved around the diamond as the Dodgers tried to identify the best route forward for him, but the Cubs are narrowing his daily work to first base this spring. He has partnered at first with Patrick Wisdom, who could serve as a weapon against lefties to spell the lefty-swinging Busch at times.
How much Busch is exposed to left-handed pitching “ultimately depends on what the roster looks like,” Counsell said. For now, the manager knows the most important thing is not only getting Busch comfortable at first base, but with a new organization.
