The Chicago Cubs‘ bullpen and pitching staff as a whole had a problem with walks in 2017. Pitching coach Chris Bosio was fired in place of Jim Hickey as a result. So far in 2018, even in a small sample size, the walks haven’t changed much.
In 2017, the league average walk rate for teams was 8.5%. For the Cubs, it was 9.1%. That ranked seventh in the major leagues. Breaking it down even more, for relievers, the league walk rate was 9.2%. The Cubs were not good here, at 11.2%, which led the major leagues.