The metrics behind these top Cubs performers

This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. MLB.com's Tim Stebbins filled in on this edition. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The ground ball Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong hit to Rays first baseman Yandy Díaz in the fifth inning on Tuesday had a negative-48-degree launch angle and a 57 mph exit velocity. Put another way, it had a 31 percent hit probability.

But as Crow-Armstrong continues to show, you can’t assume anything when he’s running the bases.

Díaz, playing behind the bag, came charging in and to his right. Rays pitcher Zach Eflin went to cover first, but he could not corral Diáz’s toss and Crow-Armstrong picked up a hustle single. When the ball then trickled a few feet away from Eflin, Crow-Armstrong advanced to second, where he dove in safely.

Crow-Armstrong’s sprint speed on that play was 31.0 feet per second -- his quickest this season. The 22-year-old has been elite in that category and has constantly put pressure on opponents when he’s on the basepaths. Entering Thursday, he ranked third in the Major Leagues in average sprint speed, at 30.1 feet per second. Only Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. and St. Louis’ Victor Scott II (30.4 feet per second) ranked higher.

Along with Crow-Armstrong’s baserunning, here are a few other standout metrics Cubs players have put up a third of the way through the season, underscored by moments this week.

RHP Hayden Wesneski: Sweeper movement

Wesneski has one of the biggest sweepers in the Major Leagues. It has generated plus-four inches of horizontal movement compared to league average (those thrown at similar velocity and from a similar release point). That ranked fifth in the Majors among qualified pitchers entering Thursday.

And with that big movement has come big success. Wesneski has a 40.6 percent whiff rate with his sweeper this season, and opponents have just a .160 average and a .340 slugging percentage against it. The pitch has accounted for 24 of his 34 strikeouts, including when he set down Tampa Bay’s Jonny DeLuca swinging for the third out of the eighth inning on Tuesday.

RF Seiya Suzuki: Hard-hit rate

Suzuki launched a solo home run in the fourth inning on Wednesday, a blast that registered a 104.8 mph exit velocity. It was one reference point to an overall trend for the right fielder this season: He’s consistently hitting the ball hard.

Statcast defines a hard-hit ball as one with at least a 95 mph exit velocity. Suzuki entered Thursday ranked 16th among qualified hitters this season with a 52.5 percent hard-hit rate. He’s off to a strong start in June, slashing .314/.385/.686 with three homers, two doubles and one triple in nine games.

2B Nico Hoerner: K rate

Hoerner’s ability to make contact has always been one of his biggest attributes offensively. With that has come a low strikeout rate, which he has taken to a new level this season. The second baseman has a 9.8 percent K rate, his lowest in a single season and the second best in the Majors this year, entering Thursday, behind San Diego’s Luis Arraez. Hoerner’s strikeout in the fourth inning on Wednesday was just his 24th this season.