Kosuke Fukudome Has Officially Hit the Wall

What do these numbers mean; .305, .293, .264, .236, .107? Well, those are the monthly batting averages as delivered by the Cubs rookie sensation Kosuke Fukudome. You may have noticed a trend. It's gone from really good, to decent, to average to really, really bad. Sure, every rookie is going to hit the wall at some point during the season. However, Fukudome hasn't just hit the wall, the plane has crashed into the building.

Lou Pinella has tried various line-ups to help Fukudome re-establish the groove he found himself in to start the season. He's slipped him in between Alfonso Soriano and Derrick Lee with the hopes that Fukudome will see better pitches to hit. And maybe he is, but maybe he's just missing his chances. Is he pressing? Quite possibly, but Fukudome seems more fatigued than anything. Perhaps, that's the simple wear and tear from the grind of a full 162 game season in the bigs.

What's hurt Fukudome more so than anything is timing, swinging at pitches out of the strike zone or watching hittable pitches cross by his knees. Now, that's a far stretch from watching the patient eye who never missed or swung at bad pitch back in April. And the numbers dictate the same story. Look, we all know there are slumps and then there are slumps. Fukudome is in one giant effing slump or this is a really disturbing omen.

I like to think more on the bright side, with the former. It's not as though Fukudome has become a non-asset to the team. He still plays solid defense and one would have to hope and anticipate that his bat will come around. Either way, opposing pitchers can still ill afford to lose respect or fall asleep against Fukudome. In the meantime, at least his teammates have picked up a hefty portion of the slack. However, Fukudome is certainly leaving many guessing as to whether or not he's cut in the mold of a Superstar.

Will he thrive or won't he? Will he hit or won't he? It's a battle against time and the clock is ticking. Obviously, Fukudome has hit the wall pretty hard and now it's time to scrape himself off the wall for the stretch run. Of course, today's 0-4 line against the Braves give little reason for optimism. And it seems like just yesterday he beat the Brewers on a walk-off homer in April at Wrigley. Deep, deep sigh.