Renteria sticking with righty-lefty platoons for now

Renteria sticking with righty-lefty platoons for now

CHICAGO -- In the first seven games of the season, Cubs manager Rick Renteria has used a lefty-righty platoon at third base and in the outfield, and said he'll continue to do so.

"At this point, we're still allowing these guys the opportunity to use the splits that end up existing, righty-lefty," Renteria said. "At some point, these guys will end up playing against both righties and lefties."

So far, left-handed hitting Luis Valbuena, Ryan Sweeney and Ryan Kalish are starting against right-handers, while right-handed hitting Mike Olt and Junior Lake face the lefty starting pitchers. Emilio Bonifacio, a switch-hitter, usually moves to the outfield against southpaws.

At some point, though, Renteria said he will likely abandon the platoon. It depends on the players.

"It's the seventh game of the season today," Renteria said Tuesday. "As the season progresses, and I start to see them playing more and they have pinch-hit at-bats in the ballgame ... a lot of those things are giving me a lot of information and feedback leading me to where we might ultimately go."

Performance is key, he said.

"You might have someone say, 'Well, I can't perform unless I have four, five regular at-bats every single day,'" Renteria said. "The reality is every time you get an opportunity to hit, that's an opportunity. How good the at-bat is, how the approach is -- you don't have to get a hit to have a good approach. It could be a productive at-bat without getting a hit. You take all those factors into play and hopefully make the right decision."
