Can Cubs Slugger Franmil Reyes Achieve his Previous Success?

Chicago Cubs designated hitter Franmil Reyes has burst onto the scene, bringing new life to their offense. 

Coming into August 22, Reyes is hitting .333 with a .963 OPS in his short eleven-game stint with the Cubs. Before that however, the young right-hander was having the worst season of his career with the Cleveland Guardians. 

With a slash line of .213/.254/.350, Reyes was eventually designated for assignment before being brought in by Chicago. Before this season, Reyes was a middle-of-the-lineup hitter with a .828 OPS and 121 OPS+ while demonstrating serious power. 

What are some changes that can allow Reyes to bring back his previous success? 

The first piece of drastic change is in his walk rate. While the powerful righty was never a walk-machine, he was at least serviceable. During the 2021 MLB season, Reyes had a walk-rate of 9.2% and a 10% rate in 2020. Neither of these are considered elite but solid. 

However, in 2022 it's down to 4.6% and he has walked just once since joining Chicago. This season has also seen an uptick in his outside the zone swing%, from 29.7% last year to 33.2% this year. 

If both of these can improve closer to his 2021 campaign rates, then he may get more pitches to swing at, and in-turn do more damage. 

One other staggering drop is his lack of hits against offspeed pitches this year. Last season he hit .250 with a .446 slugging percentage, more than respectable. This year he's hitting under .100 without an extra-base hit all season. 

While it's a short sample size, he has recorded more extra-base hits during his time with the Cubs this season. While of course all of his numbers are down, he had just nine doubles with Cleveland in 2021. 

In the video below from Baseball Savant, Reyes is seen pulling this backup slider down the left field line.