Schwindel taking everything in stride as Cubs get ready to face Yankees
Playing for 10 different minor league teams teaches a player to never get comfortable.
So even though Cubs first baseman Frank Schwindel started this season with a job in the majors for the first time, he knew anything was possible.
"(The Cubs) could have signed anybody at any given time," he said. "Not that I wasn't confident, but there were a lot of big-name first basemen out there, so you never know what could happen. My mindset was the same, my preparation. Similar to any other offseason. Just keep going the same way I always have."
It had to be tough for Schwindel to take everything in stride. He replaced Anthony Rizzo at the end of last season and posted a top-10 OPS after the all-star break.
But over the winter, Cubs Twitter would perk up with any mention of Rizzo possibly returning to the North Side. He didn't, and the Cubs will play against Rizzo this weekend in New York.
The Cubs got an extra day off when the second game of their short series in Baltimore was rained out. The game was rescheduled for Thursday, Aug. 18 at 2:05 p.m.
That is conveniently the day after the Cubs are scheduled to complete a three-game series at Washington, and exactly one week after the "Field of Dreams" game in Dyersville, Iowa.
The Cubs are off Thursday before moving up the East Coast to face the Yankees, while Baltimore is opening a series in Kansas City, which prevented the game from being made up Thursday.
This will be Schwindel's first games as a major-leaguer in New York City, where he starred in college at St. John's. He grew up in Livingston, N.J., watching the Yankees, so this weekend will be special for both Schwindel and his group of friends who played whiffle ball in the backyard when they were kids.
"Those guys have been with me since Day 1, they're just as excited as I was (to stick with the Cubs)," Schwindel said. "They always believed in me, they always supported me. Even though the slow start to the season wasn't what anybody wanted or expected, but we're getting through it, we're grinding, trying to keep that same mindset and good times are coming."
Schwindel knows what a roller-coaster ride this can be. He was once a spring-training sensation for the Royals, but got just six games in the majors with KC. It took more than two years for his next chance, but less than two weeks after hitting his first career home run with Oakland, he was released and claimed off waivers by the Cubs.
After hitting .222 in April, Schwindel was technically sent down to Iowa. But before he even headed to Des Moines, injuries forced him to be recalled, and he took a middle seat on a commercial flight to meet the team in San Diego.
"This is the most humbling game there is, just in the highs and lows of everything," Schwindel said. "Look at the best hitter in baseball, Mike Trout, he went 0-for-26. It's a crazy game, there's no two games in a row that are the same, everybody goes through ups and downs. The best ones get through it the quickest."
Schwindel was able to turn things around without that stint in the minors. During the past month, he's hit .271 while leading the Cubs with 21 RBI. Especially since the DH is back in the National League, Schwindel has a chance to establish himself as a reliable hitter who deserves to stick around.
"Feeling healthy was half the battle," he said. "Just a little back issue in the spring and limited at-bats because of that. It took longer than usual to get the timing going, the zone, stuff like that. I'm feeling good now.
"I've proven I can hit at this level, had a great start last year. I've shown what I can do and it's just a matter of time just getting consistent success and better at-bats and stringing good ones together and building off that."
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