Chicago Cubs Lineup (3/23/25): PCA Leads Off, Hoerner at 2B, Boyd Starting

The Cubs are back in action with a mixed lineup following games featuring all backups and regulars, respectively. Like yesterday, this one will not be broadcast on Marquee. Perhaps your friendly neighborhood Cubs Insider dudes can share some video clips from the game. In any case, this matchup gives us a preview of the second stateside series in Sacramento against the A’s.

Matt Boyd is on the bump for the fourth time in Cactus League action and fifth appearance overall including his modified piggyback start with Jameson Taillon in Tokyo. That outing saw Boyd strike out six with no walks and three hits allowed over four scoreless innings. Now he needs to carry that back to Arizona, where he’s given up seven runs over his last two starts.

I’d say we should be paying close attention to Boyd’s velo to see if the 95 mph readings from Tokyo were hot or the product of adrenaline. Having him sit mid-9s would be a very strong development. Marquee wouldn’t display that information on the broadcast anyway, so we’ll try to share what we can from the game.

Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center and gets a shot at the leadoff spot, then it’s Nico Hoerner getting his second start of the spring at second base. Justin Turner is at first, Miguel Amaya is behind the plate, and Matt Shaw is at third. Gage Workman handles short, Ben Cowles is the DH, Andy Garriola is in right, and Greg Allen is in left. We should see them field regular-season lineups the next two games against the Braves.

They’re up against Osvaldo Bido, a 29-year-old righty who joined the A’s last year after coming up with the Pirates as a 2017 international free agent. He debuted with Pittsburgh in 2023, making nine starts out of 16 total appearances with a 5.86 ERA. That led to him being non-tendered and signing a minors deal with Oakland, where he had the same number of appearances and starts with a 3.41 ERA last year.

Bido throws a mid-90s run-ride fastball that sets up a sharp slider with much less depth than average. His cutter gets a lot less horizontal break than expected, often generating arm-side movement, and his changeup likewise gets run with more carry than most offspeed pitches. Though some of that might look bad on paper, he finds success because his offerings fool hitters.

To wit, he may have been the best pitcher in baseball at limiting barrels and hard contact. His 4.3% barrel rate was in the 93rd percentile, his 85.6 mph average exit velocity was in the 99th, and his 27% hard-hit rate was in the 100th. That’s not really something you’d expect from a guy who doesn’t get much chase and whose 30.7% grounder rate was in the 2nd percentile. Rather than get guys to beat the ball into the ground, Bido relies on weak fly balls and humpback liners.

Whether that’s sustainable remains to be seen, but Bido’s previous results indicate his .250 BABIP against and 0.43 HR/9 last year may have been aberrations. That’s certainly been the case over his last two spring starts with 10 earned runs allowed on 13 hits (including five homers), one walk, and one hit batter over 8.1 innings. He did manage to strike out eight in that stretch, so it’s possible he had a specific target he was working on.

If I had to guess, I’d say the A’s want Bido to throw more strikes after being at an even 10% walk rate last season. Not a bad strategy for most players, but I wonder whether having a repertoire that sees nearly every pitch hanging up in the zone isn’t conducive to living in the zone. The Cubs could sure use a get-right game, so fingers crossed for some fat mistakes in this one.

First pitch from Sloan is on 670 The Score with select highlights on Cubs Insider’s X account.