MESA, Ariz. – Six years ago, outfielder Mike Tauchman felt like he’d reached his ceiling with his swing. He’d just finished his first year of Triple-A ball with the Rockies, and he was looking for someone to help him unlock more potential. That’s how he was introduced to Justin Stone and his ‘Elite Baseball Training’ facility.

Now, Stone is in his fourth season as the Cubs’ director of hitting, and Tauchman – a Palatine, Illinois native and William Fremd High School alumnus – is a spring training invitee competing for a roster spot. 

“It’s a cool opportunity to be in the same spot professionally,” Tauchman said, “because we’ve had that relationship in the past.”

The outfield landscape has shifted in Cubs camp since Seiya Suzuki strained his left oblique, an injury that will likely sideline him for opening day. 

“It definitely gives some guys an opportunity to make the team that might not have, or might have been facing different competition,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said this week. “So we’ll see. We’ll obviously have a lot of conversations about it the rest of camp.”

Patrick Wisdom and Trey Mancini are in position to fill in for Suzuki, in addition to playing third base and first base, respectively. But Suzuki’s injury also begins to clear a path for non-roster invitee outfielders Ben DeLuizo, who is representing Italy in the World Baseball Classic, and Tauchman to play themselves onto the roster.

“It doesn’t really change what I’ve set out to accomplish anyways,” Tauchman said. “So I’m just going to continue trying to prepare myself for a season here.”

He continued making a mark Saturday, starting in right field and going 1-for-1 with a walk. His hit was a double off the left-field wall.

Tauchman’s swing has clearly evolved since his former Bradley University coach, Sean Lyons, recommended Stone six years ago. Lyons and Justin Stone were teammates at Eastern Illinois University, years before Stone started Elite Baseball Training in Chicago.

“Mike is the most cerebral hitter I’ve ever worked with,” Stone said in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “He’s a really intelligent guy, very bright. So he had some of his own thoughts on where he was in his minor-league career and how he was going to break through to the big leagues. It was more having a conversation.”  

Tauchman came in with a hands-oriented choppy swing, and he wasn’t using his body to effectively elevate the ball. So, they worked to adjust his swing plane.

“It just made sense,” Tauchman said of Stone’s approach to coaching. “When something is explained to you logically and explained with video evidence, it’s easier to understand. When you can see it, and when you hear it, [you can tell] what you’re doing and why it’s inefficient versus what would be more efficient. … And then when you start implementing those new feels, when you’re seeing results and feeling results, it creates some buy-in”

Tauchman made his MLB debut the next season, in June of 2017. He’s spent time in the Rockies, Yankees and Giants organizations since. He went overseas last season, playing in the Korean Baseball Organization. 

“You can just tell he’s been around and has got time in the big leagues, knows how to handle his at-bats,” manager David Ross said. “The things that stood out early were calm approach, better outfielder than I expected, thinks through his at-bats, thinks through his swing, it feels like he controls the zone really well, and making solid contact.”

His focus with Stone this offseason was generating more bat speed with the swing he has. So far, he’s put together a strong spring training performance, batting .600 in five games.

“I’m here to try to earn a spot on the team,” he said. “I think that’s what everybody is really trying to do: get to the big leagues and stay in the big leagues and compete in the big leagues. I still think that I have something to offer, so I’m going to keep playing as long as I think I have something to offer.”

Even with his previous stops in two National League organizations, Tauchman has never played at Wrigley Field.

Said Tauchman: “That would be something that’d be really, really cool to do before it’s all said and done in my career.”