When the Cubs signed veteran outfielder Mike Tauchman to a minor league deal back in January of last year, the deal was barely a footnote in an offseason that saw Chicago splurge on stars such as Dansby Swanson and Cody Bellinger as they attempted to work their way back into the playoff conversation. Even the signings of veteran role players such as Trey Mancini and Eric Hosmer appeared to be more relevant to the Cubs’ chances as the season got underway, although injuries eventually forced the club to select Tauchman’s contract on May 19, 2023.
One year to the day later, the 33-year-old journeyman has emerged as one of the most important pieces in Chicago’s lineup as they renew their efforts to return to the postseason for the first time in a full season since 2018.
Tauchman is perhaps best known for his 2019 campaign, when he enjoyed a breakout season with the Yankees. The then-28-year-old had struggled through 69 plate appearances with the Rockies since making his big league debut back in 2017, hitting just .153/.265/.203 during that time, and was flipped to the Yankees in a minor trade during Spring Training 2019. Despite his lack of success at the big league level, Tauchman received an opportunity with the Yankees midseason when injuries to Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton left a hole in the Yankees outfield alongside Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge. He made the most of the opportunity and posted 3.1 fWAR in just 87 games as he slashed a whopping .277/.361/.504 with 13 home runs in just 296 trips to the plate.
While his incredible performance in 2019 offered some hope that he was emerging as a big league regular, Tauchman would fall back to Earth over the next two seasons. In 118 games with the Yankees and Giants across the 2020-21 seasons, his power production completely evaporated, leaving him with a paltry .203/.306/.291 slash line despite a still-strong 12.3% walk rate. Tauchman’s struggles ultimately led him to head overseas to play out the 2022 season with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization.
His 144-game stint in Korea went quite well, as he slashed a strong .289/.366/.430 in 648 trips to the plate as the club’s starting center fielder. On the heels of his strong performance, Tauchman tried his luck at returning to stateside ball in free agency during the 2022-23 offseason, although he ultimately was unable to find anything more than a minor league pact with Chicago. He held his own in 21 games with the Cubs during Spring Training, hitting a respectable .225/.354/.400 in 48 trips to the plate, but was ultimately unable to crack the club’s Opening Day roster even amid an injury to outfielder Seiya Suzuki as the Cubs instead opted to utilize Mancini and Miles Mastrobuoni in right field to open the season.
Tauchman’s chance would come later in the season, when an injury to Bellinger and the deep struggles of Hosmer led the club to place the former on the injured list and designate the latter for assignment. With a gaping hole in center field and only Ian Happ batting from the left side in the starting lineup, the Cubs selected Tauchman to the roster and installed him as a stopgap option in center field while Bellinger was on the shelf. Tauchman made the most of the opportunity, however, and by the time Bellinger was ready to return to the lineup in June, Tauchman was reaching base at a .415 clip and playing strong enough defense in center that the Cubs opted to temporarily move Bellinger to first base in order to keep Tauchman’s bat in the lineup.
Tauchman remained one of the club’s top on-base threats throughout the remainder of the season, and ended the 2023 campaign having eclipsed 100 games played and 400 trips to the plate in the majors for the first time in his career. His final slash line of .252/.363/.377 showed little power compared to his .227 ISO during his 2019 campaign with the Yankees, but his excellent 14% walk rate was second only to Ian Happ among Cubs hitters and he managed to reduce his strikeout rate to just 21.4%, a far cry from the 27% clip he had punched out at in the majors to that point in his career.
The showing was enough for Tauchman to not only be tendered an arbitration-level contract for the first time in his career but also enter Spring Training assured of a spot on the Opening Day roster. While the returning outfield trio of Happ, Bellinger, and Suzuki combined with the addition of Michael Busch at first base appeared likely to push Tauchman out of the Cubs’s starting lineup as the 2023 season began, a combination of early-season injuries to Suzuki and Bellinger and manager Craig Counsell’s willingness to play Christopher Morel at third base on a regular basis has opened up plenty of opportunities for Tauchman to continue to act as a regular in the club’s lineup this season.
Once again, Tauchman has made the most of his opportunities by delivering an even stronger start than he did in 2023. In 43 games with the Cubs this season, the 33-year-old is slashing an excellent .257/.375/.407 in 168 trips to the plate. He’s seen his walk rate tick up to a whopping 14.9% that’s good for seventh among all qualified regulars in MLB this year, while his strikeout rate has held steady at 21.4%. Most excitingly, Tauchman has even managed to show a bit more power than he did in his first season with Chicago; he’s already clubbed four homers and nine doubles after managing just eight homers and 18 doubles throughout the entire 2023 campaign.
All that adds up to an excellent 130 wRC+ that leaves Tauchman tied with Bellinger for 40th place among all MLB regulars and first among all Cubs hitters this season. It’s been a truly remarkable pair of seasons for Tauchman in Chicago, and if he can continue to produce at this sort of level the Cubs will have plenty of tough decisions on their hands with top outfield prospects such as Pete Crow-Armstrong and Owen Caissie knocking on the door of the majors. Regardless of the outcome of those decisions, Tauchman has done enough over the past calendar year to assure himself continued opportunities at the big league level even as he enters his mid-thirties in a remarkable turnaround for a player many had written off as a one-season wonder half a decade ago.
The Tushman
Mike Tauchman has earned his spot.
Yes he has but Ian Happ should lose his spot. Dude gets worse every year. Your supposed to get better year after year but that was his best
Ian Happ is 31 years old, he’s hardly projected to get better
SMH at how poorly educated people are
I completely agree, signing up to the three-year contract was one of the worst things the Cubs have done recently recently. Cheri‘s got a nice glove and he gets on base had a pretty good clip but other than that, he’s completely disappointing to me. Particularly with all the outfield depth you have in the minors. Time to trade him.
I would like to see a series for guys who are massively underperforming their career norms. Almost every team in baseball has a guy like this on their team. It’s crazy how many guys are not living up to expectations. Some names off the top of my head
Goldschmidt
Garver
Lindor
Bogaerts
C Taylor
There are many many more guys like this who are off to terrible starts.
Mlb has a very long history of formerly solid players suddenly becoming wildly inconsistent once entering thier early to mid 30s..nothing surprising here except maybe expecting these guys to perform like did in thier prime years
I could name at least 30 guys that are underperforming that has nothing to do with age. And it’s not by a small amount.
Feel free to comment on the topic if you don’t like me idea……
So create two AAAA teams to square off against one another? How does that help them get back to being productive MLB players?
Arozarena
Benintendi
Renfroe
Long list of guys who are performing way under their career norms. I can keep going…..
Gleyber Torres
Corbin Carroll
Eugenia Suarez
Julio Rodriguez
I can keep going…….
These aren’t old washed up players they are guys expected to perform in 2024 who aren’t performing.
Machado
Bichette
Kirk
Are those guys old and washed up? Nope. Just off to terrible starts.
@MLB fanatic- Pretty sure blackpink meant a series as in multiple posts by the writers covering this lol not actual games
Yeah I should have worded it differently I could see why there was some confusion but yes that’s what was intended.
Blackpink…now you are changing your argument because you cant dispute my take…sure anyone can cherry pick under performing players of all ages..im sure you could find 30 players “overperforming” as well
I never changed my argument you fool. You might not have understood what I meant. You could have asked instead you chose to criticize.
Like I said there is a very long list of underperforming players this year. An unusual amount of them. I would like to see a series of posts about these guys. Maybe they are unlucky. Maybe there are other reasons. I think its worth discussing.
And if you disagree THEN DONT DISCUSS IT!
lol im the fool? you are the fool lol ..there is a very long list EVERY YEAR.
Yes you are the fool. You misunderstood what I said and attacked it like a weirdo. You could have simply ignored what I said but you had to jump in.
Welcome to mute. I don’t see the point in talking to you.
You are the wierdo and attacked me for making a counterpoint..then you called me a fool..grow up snowflake
Wouldn’t take old and wash-up off the table for Machado just yet.
Chris Taylor is absolute toast, he’s not in the same category as those other guys….
He’s getting paid like them…unfortunately
Taylor had a 746 OPS last year which is basically whst his career OPS is. Now it’s under 300.
There are tons of other guys. Jake Burger has a sub 500 OPS. Andrew Vaughn has been awful. Torkelson looked like he figured it out last year this year he’s awful.
This isn’t typical.
Yup, spread some avocado cause CT is toast.
Tauch. I’ll always remember when he played for the Giants in 2021 and robbed the would-be grand slam hit by Pujols at Dodger Stadium. Glad he’s doing well with the Cubs.
Remember it well. Would’ve been a walk off I believe. He also hit a walk off homer as well. Then he just stopped hitting.
Traded for Wandy Peralta who had some nice seasons for the Yanks and still pitching well with the Padres.
Nice to see all the ex Giants that Farhan lost patience with doing well. Rooting for him and Connor “cuppa” Joe especially.
Non Roster Invitee,
I think you’re right about it being a walk off. He hit a huge home run in Washington too. I think that was the game DeSclafani threw a CG/shutout (maybe wrong game).
It is nice to see some of the guys Farhan gave up on doing well. Stuart Fairchild as well. He was a Giant for about 5 minutes. What’s disheartening are the stars they’ve traded in the past. Bryan Reynolds, Wheeler, Duvall (not so much a star, but was still a well above average contributor for a while).
If not for Mike Tauchman & Nico Hoerner this team wouldn’t be even .500 ball since Seiya & Belli went down to injury.
Now all Cubs need Is to get Ian Happ to Hit and Kyle Hendricks back on track. And Central Division and NLCS are In Chicago IL
Tauchman is the definition of a ballplayer. He has a great eye, plays hard on defense and will run into the wall to rob a home run. He does the little things well. I have liked him as a cub the past two seasons.
Didn’t mention the other “feel good” part of this. Tauchman is from the NW burbs of Chicago so he’s finally succeeding as a player and playing at home.
Wauchie Tauchie. He’s been so good. Master of the 3-2 count.
Holy fluff, “respectable .225” and “excellent .257” are written in this article. On some other teams those numbers get you benched or DFA’d but somehow are celebrated to the extreme here!
That’s approaching the extremely overhyped PCA level.
Pca is the cubs future CF. It’s not overhype. He’s a legit star in the making. Plus he’s only 22.
Facts show he’s hitting .203 at AAA and .236 in bigs.
Floor is late game defensive sub/pinch runner. To say he’s “star in making” is gross overstatement! Maybe he becomes a slightly better version of like Brett Gardner, but that’s clearly not a star! Gotta love Cub fans lol
Seems like you spelled understatement wrong.
Palatine pounder
I don’t think he has been on DL once, solid player Cubs lucky to have him.
Always professional at-bats in his time w/ Cubs.
Maybe he trusts himself more after pounding Korea.
Cool, now where is the write-up about 2 journeyman doing better than this guy Kevin Pillar and Willie Calhoun?
Tauchman is a nice player, and has been playing well, bit he should be a 4th outfielder in a perfect world.
Nice story about a local guy but kinda sad that the Cubs, a major market team, have become so reliant on someone who should be a fourth outfielder at best.
So is he a trade candidate? Or an extension candidate? Why would a trade rumors site be talking about him other than as a favor to his agent? MLB execs read this site; kicking some chump change to starving writers to copy-paste some numbers from Fangraphs and Statcast for a player-friendly puff piece sure is an easy way to boost your player’s market.
slashing an excellent .257?!
I would not call that excellent, although I like his play and grit on the field. Cubs have some prospects that surely spell out Cubs are not long term. What he is doing is showcasing himself for other teams who need that 4th OF to play hard.
The BA isn’t particularly impressive, but his .372 OBP is good for 12th in the NL.. Not bad for a guy with this type of MLB journey.