Maybe you weren’t rooting for Steven Souza Jr., but it was kind of a cool story for the veteran outfielder, who missed all of 2019 after suffering a torn ACL right before last year’s Opening Day. The Cubs brought him in, as Souza had decent numbers against left-handed pitching and just three years ago he put up a good year with the Rays. He had a lot to prove after battling injuries for a year and a half.
But not everything works out like a fairytale.
Souza has always been a big strikeout hitter, but his 2020 sample size with the Cubs was outrageously bad. That’s why fans were perplexed when he was in the lineup for Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Cardinals, but maybe that was just the Cubs giving the veteran one more chance to prove he could bring something to the table.
And it’s not like Souza didn’t have opportunities during the game, but he failed miserably striking out with no one out and the bases loaded in the second inning and then striking out again with a runner at third later in the game.
Souza was pinch-hit for in the seventh and after the 4-2 loss the Cubs DFA’d the right-handed hitter.
Souza was 4-for-27, with a home run and five RBIs in 11 games for the Cubs, striking out 15 times in 31 plate appearances.
