MESA, Ariz. — Six years ago, outfielder Mike Tauchman felt as though he had reached his ceiling with his swing. He just had 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 in Chicago.
Now Stone is in his fourth season as the Cubs’ director of hitting, and Tauchman — a native of Palatine and a 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 suffered a strained left oblique, an injury that likely will 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 recently. ‘‘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 anyway,’’ Tauchman said. ‘‘So I’m just going to continue trying to prepare myself for a season here.’’
He continued making his mark Saturday, starting in right field and going 1-for-1 with a walk against the Angels. His hit was a double off the left-field wall.
Tauchman’s swing clearly has evolved since Sean Lyons, his former coach at Bradley University in Peoria, recommended Stone six years ago. Lyons and Stone were teammates at Eastern Illinois years before Stone started Elite Baseball Training.
‘‘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 choppy, hands-oriented swing and wasn’t using his body to elevate the ball effectively. 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 major-league debut in June 2017 and has 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,’’ Cubs 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, feels like he controls the zone really well and making solid contact.’’
Tauchman’s focus this offseason was generating more bat speed with the swing he has. So far, he has put together a strong spring 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.’’
Despite his previous time with two National League organizations, Tauchman never has played at Wrigley Field.
‘‘That would be something that’d be really, really cool to do before it’s all said and done in my career,’’ he said.
