Bob Levey/Getty ImagesThe Houston Astros have the 2017 American League MVP back at their disposal after they announced he was activated from the 10-day disabled list Tuesday.Altuve was out with right knee soreness http://www.giantsfanproshop.com/authentic-evan-longoria-jersey , and his return wasn't the only roster move the team announced. It also selected the contract of left-handed pitcher Framber Valdez and optioned outfielder Kyle Tucker and left-handed pitcher Cionel Perez to Triple-A.Tucker struggled in his first action in the major leagues, slashing .154/.254/.212 with zero home runs and three RBI in 20 games. It is reasonable, however, to expect better production from him eventually considering MLB.com has himrankedas the eighth-best prospect in the game.While Tucker may be a future star, the return of Altuve came just in time for the 2018 Astros.He last played July 25, and the defending World Series champions were an ugly 8-13 without him. The six-time All-Star and three-time AL batting champion is slashing .329/.392/.464 with nine home runs and 46 RBI and figures to provide a much-needed boost.The Astros are tied with the Oakland Athletics atop the American League West and 3.5 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners for the second wild-card spot. Houston is looking to defend its title, but it will have its hands full just trying to make the playoffs if it doesn't play better moving forward.Altuve should help the Astros do just that in the final stretch of the regular season. An early look at the Cubs starting pitching."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Chicago Cubs recapsChicago Cubs minor leaguesChicago Cubs essaysChicago Cubs game threadsWrigley Field renovationsFull archiveLibrary Bleed Cubbie Blue Community GuidelinesCurrent time in ChicagoBCB Specials & Site InfoWinter 2019 music threadsCubs StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Cubs newsYahoo Cubs team pageYahoo Cubs reportYahoo Cubs depth chartYahoo Cubs transactionsYahoo Cubs photosOdds Shop About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub 鉁昐tatistical analysisChicago Cubs essaysCubs pitchers are giving up a lot of hard contact in 2019New,28commentsAn early look at the Cubs starting pitching.CDTShareTweetShareShareCubs pitchers are giving up a lot of hard contact in 2019Cole Hamels reacts after giving up a home run in spring trainingJoe Camporeale-USA TODAY SportsThe Cubs have not gotten off to the best possible start in 2019. This, you surely know.In good news, they appear to have fixed whatever was broken with their offense at the end of 2018. After all, they’ve scored a National League Central leading 72 runs through the first 10 games of 2019. However, the pitching has been less than stellar, giving up a National League Central leading 71 runs in that same span. Most articles so far have rightly focused on the bullpen. That’s understandable Duane Kuiper Jersey , after all, multiple losses in games where the team has scored 10 runs will cause that sort of evaluation. However, today I want to take a closer look at the Cubs starting pitching because there is a different problem lurking behind their numbers.Two of the Cubs’ five starters are being hit hard. Actually, that doesn’t really cover what I’m trying to say here at all. Two of the Cubs five starters are being absolutely demolished by opposing hitters, let’s take a closer look below.BarrelsStatcast data is available at baseball savant and it’s a wealth of information about players. These are the people tracking things like exit velocity, sprint speed and, one of my favorite stats, barrels. Barrels are balls that are hit perfectly. It’s a combination of exit velocity and launch angle, and signifies a sort of ideal zone of contact for a hitter. Statcast defines barrels as follows: Think of these as perfectly struck baseballs. They might become home runs. they might become outs, but they are hit about as well as the baseball possibly be hit. At the risk of being accused of gratuitous Willson Contreras footage, this is a barrel [VIDEO].Your browser does not support HTML5 video.And here’s what it looks like in Statcast form:Now, as much as I love watching barrels when the Cubs are hitting, one of the signs of a good pitcher is avoiding that type of contact. In fact http://www.giantsfanproshop.com/authentic-evan-longoria-jersey , from 2014-2018 I think it will surprise no one that one of the pitchers who has been pretty good at limiting barrels in the major leagues is none other than Kyle Hendricks, as you can see below:Kyle Hendricks Barrels by YearStatcast - Baseball SavantI’m sure you can spot the outlier on that chart as well as I can. Through two starts in 2019 Hendricks just doesn’t look like himself and if you found yourself thinking “wow, it looks like he’s getting hit really hard,” well, you were right:Pitchers with the most barrels per batted ball eventLast NameFirst NameBBELaunch AngleSweet Spot %Max EVAvg EVFB/LD EVGB EVEV 95+EV 95%BarrelsBarrel %Barrel/PALast NameFirst NameBBELaunch AngleSweet Spot %Max EVAvg EVFB/LD EVGB EVEV 95+EV 95%BarrelsBarrel %Barrel/PAMost barrels per batted ball event 2019Statcast - Baseball SavantThe chart above is sorted for the percent of barrels per batted ball event for pitchers with at least 15 batted balls in 2019. In other words, it’s my attempt to limit this to starters with at least two starts under their belts. While the numbers for Kyle Hendricks are alarming, the company he’s keeping is also a bit terrifying. Two of the Cubs five starters are in the top 10 in terms of barrel percent. Cole Hamels is also giving up an enormous amount of hard contact and that doesn’t bode well for 2019:Cole Hamels barrels by yearStatcast - Baseball SavantBelow I’ll look at four possible contributing factors to the shockingly high barrel rates Cubs’ starters are posting in 2019.The strike zoneArguing balls and strikes is usually a futile exercise and I’m not looking to highlight how blown calls have impacted particular games. However, one thing Hendricks and Hamels have in common is that they are finesse pitchers who rely heavily on locating their pitches perfectly. The maximum velocity fastball either of them is capable of dropping during a given start is about 92 MPH, suffice to say they aren’t blowing stuff past batters. The parameters of the strike zone on a given night are going to impact finesse pitchers more than the Noah Syndergaards of the world who can reach back for a 98 MPH fastball when he needs it.We can get an idea of where each pitcher is locating a ball by looking at their pitch location for each start so far. Take a look at the balls and strikes called in each outing for Hendricks:Hendricks pitches v. BravesStatcast - Baseball SavantHendricks pitches v. BrewersStatcast - Baseball SavantNow let’s take a look at the same maps for Hamels:Hamels pitches v. RangersStatcast - Baseball SavantHamels pitches v. BrewersStatcast - Baseball SavantPitch location Two things jumped out at me in the above maps and it’s different for each pitcher. Kyle Hendricks appears to be getting an accurate strike zone called, but he’s throwing more balls higher in the zone. That’s a departure from previous years where he’s tended to stay down and on the corners to induce more ground ball contact. Here is one of Hendricks’ better starts against the Diamondbacks last September where Hendricks pitched 8鈪?innings with the following line: 3H 1R 1ER 1BB 8K:Hendricks pitches v. Diamondbacks 2018Statcast - Baseball SavantHamels is having a different problem. He’s throwing balls in generally the same place but he’s not getting a large number of calls. That is forcing him into the zone where he’s giving up hard contact like this disastrous pitch against Delino DeShields [VIDEO].Your browser does not support HTML5 video.Catchers/framingFor Hamels, at least, that’s a lot of blown calls, some of which are close and some of which are less close. One thing that’s important to note Derek Holland Jersey , however, is that at least in Hamels’ starts, this isn’t a problem of Contreras’ framing. Victor Caratini has caught both of Hamels’ starts and Contreras has caught Hendricks. It is possible that both of the Cubs’ young catchers are struggling with framing (and the early epidemic of catchers interference seems to indicate that’s true). Regardless, while the Cubs’ catchers may be part of the solution here, Hamels and Hendricks do better with a more expansive zone on the low corners. Since the front office hasn’t seemed interested in adding catching help, they’ll need to work on pitch placement another way.VelocityHendricks is throwing the ball slower in 2019 than in 2018, however, I don’t think this is cause for alarm. I remember writing about this at the start of last season as well. Like Lester, Kyle seems to warm up over the course of the season and their lower velocity to start 2019 is in line with their lower velocity in 2018. Hendricks velocity by pitch type by yearBrooks BaseballHamels’ velocity looks pretty much identical to his last three major league seasons:Hamels velocity by pitch type by yearBrooks BaseballTakeawaysAdmittedly, these are small sample sizes and should be expected to even out over the course of a 162-game season. My sincere hope is that the hard contact that Hendricks and Hamels are giving up is more of a fluke than a trend, but it’s worth keeping an eye on as the weather gets warmer and hitters heat up. It could be a long season with the wind blowing out at Wrigley if Hamels and Hendricks continue to give up barrels at these rates.