Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks wound up for the curveball and placed it perfectly on the lower corner of the zone away from Robert. Contreras elevated his glove to that corner before shifting it to the center of the zone. Robert went down looking.
Though it was just one strikeout in an exhibition at Wrigley Field on Monday, it showed how Contreras and the Cubs are working to improve his pitch-framing ability. The efforts began with the hiring of Craig Driver as the new first-base coach and catching coach in the offseason.
Driver has a strong track record of improving catchers' framing abilities. With Contreras, he'll attempt to turn around a catcher who has ranked near the bottom in framing.
First-year Cubs manager David Ross, who had a 15-year MLB career as a catcher, is also here to help Contreras.
"In the past, just throwing a lot of different techniques at him and trying to do that in the middle of a season or throughout a season and change is extremely difficult," Ross said. "You get locked into your pitchers and how you set up, and then you try to switch it in the middle of a season, it not only affects you and your ability to catch and frame well, but it affects the pitcher.
"It's nice to have this one message constantly."
In 2019, Contreras had a strike rate of 48.5% in what MLB's Statcast calls the "shadow zone" -- defined as roughly one baseball inside and outside the strike zone. That mark ranked 33rd among 64 catchers.
Contreras was worth -8.9 framing runs last season, according to Fangraphs. That mark ranked 108th out of the 113 catchers to play in 2019.
Near the top of both lists was Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto, who was worth 8.0 framing runs and had a strike rate of 50.3% in the shadow zone. Both marks displayed a great improvement from 2018 for the veteran Realmuto. The difference was Driver, whom Realmuto joined after being traded to Philadelphia in early 2019.
The Cubs are hoping for that type of turnaround for Contreras in his first season working with Driver. Their work began during spring training in February and early March, and their dialogue continued during MLB's shutdown period that lasted nearly four months.
For Contreras and the Cubs, pitch framing will be a key part of managing Hendricks and left-hander Jon Lester. Neither pitcher has an overpowering arsenal, instead relying on the edges of the plate to find success.
The Cubs know every pitch Contreras can frame for a strike will make a difference. They see his improvements already.
"He feels confident back there and it feels like he has continued to get better," Ross said. "I'm happy with the progress he's making."