Edwards helping turn Cubs’ bullpen into elite unit

Here’s the part you already knew: Over the summer, the Cubs added a flamethrowing reliever with high spin rates who has proven to be an absolutely dominating addition to what was already a pretty decent bullpen.

Here’s the part you might not know, at least if you’re not paying daily attention to the Cubs: We’re not actually talking about late July acquisition Aroldis Chapman. We’re talking about rookie sensation Carl Edwards, Jr., a 2011 Texas Rangers 48th-round pick who had a 4.26 ERA at Triple-A Iowa this year before being recalled mainly to boost an overworked bullpen when Dexter Fowler went on the disabled list in June.

In barely more than two months since, Edwards has proven to be so effective, so quickly, that when manager Joe Maddon needed a closer on Thursday with Chapman unavailable and previous closer Hector Rondon injured, he turned to the rookie for his first career save opportunity. It took Edwards all of 13 pitches to tear through the Giants’ Hunter Pence, Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik. If it seems like Edwards’ 2.89 ERA is pretty good — and it’s more than fine — realize that it’d be a mere 1.33 in 26 games if not for a single poor outing against St. Louis in August that inflated it by more than double.

In fact, consider this: Arguably the most dominating thing a pitcher can do is to simply throw strikes and prove that a hitter can’t touch him. That’s not to say that there isn’t value in forcing a hitter to look foolish by chasing a bad pitch out of the zone, because of course there is. But for pure, “Here’s what I’ve got, do something with it,” there’s nothing quite like looking at the list of pitchers who allow the lowest rate of contact on pitches in the strike zone. Through Monday, there have been 464 pitchers with at least 20 innings thrown the year. The leaders at preventing in-zone contact are … let’s say, impressive.

Lowest in-zone contact rate, 2016, minimum 20 innings pitched

1. 70.4 percent — Edwin Diaz 2. 70.7 percent — Edwards, Jr. 3. 71.8 percent — Chapman 4. 72.7 percent — Seung Hwan Oh 5. 72.9 percent — Sean Doolittle

Craig Kimbrel is seventh on that list. Max Scherzer and Dellin Betances are in the top 20. Diaz is quietly setting …

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