Junior

Lake

Lake, 21, batted .279/.316/.434 with 12 homers, 51 RBI, 38 stolen bases and a .750 OPS over 478 plate appearances this season between High-A Daytona and Double-A Tennessee. He has played well during the Arizona Fall League, but his hacktastic approach makes him a very polarizing prospect. In fact, some wonder if he’d be better off on the mound.

Lake batted .279/.341/.432 with 10 homers and 21 steals this season. The 22-year-old could be tested at Triple-A next year.

It’s not clear how long he’ll be sidelined, but Lake isn’t going to make the roster, anyway. He could begin the year at Triple-A.

Lake, who turns 24 later this month, batted .279/.341/.432 with 10 homers, 21 stolen bases and a .773 OPS in 103 games with Double-A Tennessee last season. He should be ready to return to game action by the end of April.

Lake had four homers in his first 15 games with the Cubs, but he had gone without one in 29 games before taking Kyle Lohse deep today. He hadn’t so much as driven in a run since Aug. 18. The Cubs figure to continue playing him regularly after trading away two-thirds of their outfield, but he shouldn’t project as a regular headed into 2014.

Lake is still hitting .314 in September and .299 overall, but it’s hard to have high hopes for a guy with a 63/10 K/BB ratio in 224 at-bats and only middling power. He’s fanned 14 times and gone without an RBI since his last walk on Sept. 10.

Lake had an infield single in the 12th inning to extend his hitting streak to eight games and picked up his third stolen base. The 23-year-old rookie is batting .314/.348/.464 with four home runs and 11 RBI over 153 at-bats.

That’s not a good sign. Lake is 2-for-24 with 11 strikeouts and no walks over the course of the five games. Overall, he has a 44/7 K/BB ratio in 170 at-bats. The good times are already over for his owners. He’ll likely finish out this season as a starting outfielder, but he projects as a utilityman going forward.

It was his only hit in four at-bats on the night. Lake is now batting .484 (15-for-31) with two homers, three doubles, five RBI, and a stolen base through his first seven games in the majors. The 23-year-old is the first Cubs player to hit safely in his first seven games in the majors since Jerome Walton in 1989. Cubs manager Dale Sveum has batted Lake first or second in each of the last four games, so he’s well worth using in deeper mixed formats while he’s hot.

Lake is showing surprising pop; his four homers in 62 major league at-bats matches his total from 156 minor league at-bats this season. His minor league high for homers in a season was 12 in 445 at-bats in 2011, so there’s little reason to think this will keep up. He’s going to be a fixture in the Cubs lineup for a while longer, though.