SURPRISE, Ariz. – Take a freeze frame of Patrick Wisdom’s leaping catch in the Cubs’ spring training opener, and he almost looks like a goalkeeper.
He was robbing the Giants’ Blake Sabol of a base hit, elevating to snag a line drive over his head. But replace the baseball with a soccer ball, and he could have been a goalie making a last-ditch effort to push a shot over the crossbar.
Wisdom took advantage of that crossover in the offseason, working with former professional goalkeeper and coach Ben Dragavon, who is based near Wisdom’s home in the Seattle area.
“I think if you watch him play third base throughout the course of the season this year, you’re gonna see a marked improvement over last year,” said Cubs bench coach Andy Green, who works with the infielders. “He’s just in a good mental space, his body works really well. He’s good over there.”
Even with a tight third-base competition, Wisdom is expected to be on the opening day roster. He’s been a staple for the Cubs since they called him up in 2021, which makes him one of the longest tenured players on a roster that’s seen plenty of turnover in recent years. In that time he’s proven the well-rounded he can be; now it’s about consistency on both sides of the ball.
Wisdom’s defense and cannon for an arm stood out in 2021. But last year, he committed a career-high 14 errors at third base, the most on the team.
“Had a little bit of a step back last year,” manager David Ross said, “but I think we identified some of the issues there, and he’s got a lot of skills over there that can be great for us.”
Wisdom focussed this offseason on body position, first step, and being explosive. All those things translate to goalkeeping.
Of course, it’s not a one-to-one comparison. Fielding a line drive while playing in may require the same movements as defending a penalty kick, but a third baseman charges in and drops back more than a goalkeeper ever should. Wisdom appreciated Dragavon’s willingness to have those conversations and figure out how to best adapt the program.
“The general thing was just putting yourself in a good position to go in or take that step back,” he said, “instead of being [compromised] and then overreaching, or just not being powerful.”
They did a footwork drill with two rings, where the goal was for both feet to hit the ground at the same time. Dragavon gave him new cues. Instead of “heavy step” one way, it was “drive your thighs” that direction.
“That’s what I love about Ben,” Wisdom said. “He’s so open to, ‘Okay, how are you perceiving this information? What are you telling yourself?’”
On the offensive side, Wisdom had a head-scratching 2022 season. He led the team in home runs (25), improved his walk rate from the year before ( 8.5% to 9.9%) and brought down his strikeout rate (40.8 % to 34.3%). But his batting average also sunk to .207.
“I think in between the ears, honestly, was the main culprit,” he said.
Some minor mechanical tweaks may give him a wider margin for error in the strike zone.
“But a huge thing is pitch selection on what I do damage on,” Wisdom said, “instead of trying to be stubborn and ego-driven and beat the pitcher on his best pitch – it might not be something that I hit well, but I want to prove data and everybody wrong.”
Results in the first couple weeks of spring training, when hitters are trying to find their timing and pitchers aren’t pitching to a scouting report, aren’t a good measure of a hitter’s offseason work. And Wisdom was out for about a week with groin tightness, leaving only three games to judge as of Tuesday. But he’s gone 2-for-6 with a pair of walks.
“Mostly just building a foundation of trust in myself was a big part of the offseason,” he said.
