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Inside Baseball
While others pursue the home run record, Sammy Sosa is having his finest season By Stephen Cannella
Sosa was also second in the league in runs (102), had a .314 batting average and was on his way to career bests in walks (he had 87, four fewer than the high he set last season), on-base percentage (.427, better than his .406 mark in 2000) and slugging percentage (.712, well above his .647 in 1998). With 122 strikeouts, Sosa was also on pace for his lowest whiff total in five seasons. Remarkably, three years after hitting 66 home runs, Sosa, at age 32, is a better, more complete hitter than ever. "I always thought hitters reach their prime around age 30 -- they have their talent and their brain gets involved, and they peak," says Jeff Pentland, the Cubs' hitting coach since 1997. "That's where Sammy is now." Sosa's surge is particularly impressive considering his lack of support in the Chicago lineup, especially before the July 27 acquisition of first baseman Fred McGriff to hit cleanup behind him. Sosa has almost singlehandedly kept the Cubs' offense afloat and Chicago in contention. He had 28 intentional walks through Sunday, the most in the majors, and a startling 70 more RBIs than the next most productive Cub, infielder Ron Coomer. "At times this year he has told me he's gone 10 days without seeing a good pitch to hit," says Pentland. "But Sammy can go off the plate when he has to, so he still gets his base hits." The patience to lay off much of the slop he sees from pitchers is a new aspect of Sosa's approach at the plate, as is a more streamlined swing. In his pregame cage work Sosa has concentrated on taking a shorter, less violent hack. The result: a better chance of making contact and thus, because of his enormous strength, more chances for extra-base hits. "People began to think he was only trying to hit home runs because he swung so hard," says Pentland. "Sammy doesn't swing nearly as hard as he used to. He's so strong he doesn't need to." Sosa's continued development at the plate is enhanced by his happy state of mind. Having signed a four-year, $72 million deal in March, he has put last year's highly publicized sulking over his contract behind him. He has also been helped by a trait that sets him apart from many other sluggers: durability. He started all but two of Chicago's first 122 games. "I knew he was a good hitter, but the amazing thing is how hard he plays every day," says Coomer, who signed with the Cubs last winter. "That's how he played when I managed against him, and that's the player I thought he could be again," says Cubs manager Don Baylor, who bickered with Sosa last season. "He's back to being the five-tool guy he was before." Issue date: August 27, 2001
For more Inside Baseball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, August 22. Click here to subscribe to SI.
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