IST: Cubs @ Nationals

[chibears55]

You realize batting average in today's game is largely pointless right? He's still got a .339 OBP and a .171 ISO. He's just in a slump largely because he has a .248 BABIP. Even if it's just the .284 he had in 2017 or the .297 he had in 2018 you're talking about his batting average being like .270 or .283.

Lol....
Thank god for walks
He been in a slump for pretty much 5 years here

 

[Parade_Rain]

Where were all these runs in Cincy? Baseball is truly a crazy game.

 

[beckdawg]

Also FWIW, not including tonight his May BABIP is .143. That's why he's batting average has tanked. I mean legitimately the rest of his numbers look fine. He's still hitting for a .145 ISO in May. So when hits are finding holes he's still hitting for power.

 

[zack54attack]

Have yourself a night KB!

 

[SiDe WaYs]

So KB just went off tonight.

 

[chibears55]

Also FWIW, not including tonight his May BABIP is .143. That's why he's batting average has tanked. I mean legitimately the rest of his numbers look fine. He's still hitting for a .145 ISO in May. So when hits are finding holes he's still hitting for power.

Lol..
Nice to know his 9 hits in last 65 ABs were hit hard, maybe he need to hit them softer to find the holes more often..lol

Im sure he gonna go on another hot streak sooner or later, and then we'll probably see these same numbers from him again cause that just what he is

 

[beckdawg]

Lol..
Nice to know his 9 hits in last 65 ABs were hit hard, maybe he need to hit them softer to find the holes more often..lol

Im sure he gonna go on another hot streak sooner or later, and then we'll probably see these same numbers from him again

Not sure if it's as much to do with how hard the ball is hit. Seems like teams are shifting him more. Statcast seems to back this up. 50.6% of the time he's seeing shifts this year vs 18.6% last year, 6.3% 2017 and 15.7% in 2016. Fangraphs has 77 of 160 PAs vs the shift. Statcast seems to think he's ok vs the shift giving his wOBA .335 which is higher than vs no shift. Fangraphs appears different with him hitting .237/.234/.289 for a .222 wOBA. Not entirely sure what's different in how they measure.

Draw your own conclusions there but it does strike me as odd because this year is the lowest pull year of his career thus far. 46.4% of his in play balls are going up the middle. You would think when he was way more pull heavy in 2016-18 they would have shifted more vs him. So, not 100% what's going on there but that's my best guess as to why his BABIP tanked.

 

[RacerX]

For those of you missing the big picture: this is indeed a glorious era for Cubs fans.

So.....STFU?

 

[CSF77]

Well Heyward had a .400 OBA for the day. I think I would be fine with that.

But hitters go hot and cold all year long. In April he was part of the success while Bryant and Rizzo we're slumping

The biggest difference is impact power that Rizzo and Bryant possess. Bryant has caught up with both Baez and Contreras in HR's and RBI's is a short period. That is the difference between a 3 WAR player and a 7 WAR player.

There is really nothing wrong with Jason. Is he over paid? Yep. But he brings constant D and has a balanced hitting approach. Basically he takes walks and strikes out at the same rate. Really it comes down to luck after that because he is putting the ball in play at a high clip.

 

[TL1961]

I don’t want all the hitters hot at the same time.

 

[beckdawg]

Well Heyward had a .400 OBA for the day. I think I would be fine with that.

But hitters go hot and cold all year long. In April he was part of the success while Bryant and Rizzo we're slumping

The biggest difference is impact power that Rizzo and Bryant possess. Bryant has caught up with both Baez and Contreras in HR's and RBI's is a short period. That is the difference between a 3 WAR player and a 7 WAR player.

There is really nothing wrong with Jason. Is he over paid? Yep. But he brings constant D and has a balanced hitting approach. Basically he takes walks and strikes out at the same rate. Really it comes down to luck after that because he is putting the ball in play at a high clip.

For me it's not just that. For me it's what Heyward brings to the club house. I mean say what you want about him as a hitter but the dude has never gave up. He's never hid from the negative talk about him. He's worked his ass off every year to try and improve. Players are going to fail. I mean more often than not FA don't turn out well. I'll take one like Heyward every day of the week. Sure it'd be great if he lived up to the contract. But if you're not going to then I can live with the type of personality he has.

And more importantly, I actually like having him around for the younger guys because not only does his work ethic set the tone but it also gives other guys someone to talk to when they slump. A lot of baseball is having the mental toughness to get yourself through slumps and having someone who's dealt with this frustration is invaluable.

 

[TL1961]

Hmmm....nobody bashing Schwarber. I wonder why.

Oh here it is. As leadoff man he reached base 4 times, and scored 3x.

 

[chibears55]

Hmmm....nobody bashing Schwarber. I wonder why.

Oh here it is. As leadoff man he reached base 4 times, and scored 3x.

We all know how Schwarber is..
He has a hot game or week hitting bombs and then goes silence for a month..

 

[chibears55]

For me it's not just that. For me it's what Heyward brings to the club house. I mean say what you want about him as a hitter but the dude has never gave up. He's never hid from the negative talk about him. He's worked his ass off every year to try and improve. Players are going to fail. I mean more often than not FA don't turn out well. I'll take one like Heyward every day of the week. Sure it'd be great if he lived up to the contract. But if you're not going to then I can live with the type of personality he has.

And more importantly, I actually like having him around for the younger guys because not only does his work ethic set the tone but it also gives other guys someone to talk to when they slump. A lot of baseball is having the mental toughness to get yourself through slumps and having someone who's dealt with this frustration is invaluable.

Nobody saying he not a good hardworking player and a good veteran in the clubhouse..
Just saying he terrible at hitting his 4 yrs here..
How many times we gonna use the excuse of bad luck and at least he takes his walks..
It not like he taking walks every game to make up for all his 0fers..

Id bet he been under a 320 OBP at least half the months here, probably quite a few under 300, and bet he probably had maybe 6 or 7 decent hitting months of at least 260 to 270 or better since he been here....

It ok to like the guy, I like him too
But enough with the excuses about his hitting
He just not good at it

 

[anotheridiot]

Pretty sure Almora is a stand up clubhouse guy.
Pretty sure Almora is a better fearless defender.
Pretty sure Almora can go off against right handed pitchers too.
Pretty sure Almora makes about 20.5 million less than Heyward.

You cannot defend Heyward AND defend Maddon benching Almora.

Pretty sure its the opposite of the CJ racism argument.

 

[TL1961]

We all know how Schwarber is..
He has a hot game or week hitting bombs and then goes silence for a month..

Unfortunately, when his bat goes silent, his critics don’t.

 

[beckdawg]

Id bet he been under a 320 OBP at least half the months here, probably quite a few under 300, and bet he probably had maybe 6 or 7 decent hitting months of at least 260 to 270 or better since he been here....

The way your predictions work out I'm even more convinced he'll get better.

As for the rest, he's literally been over .260/.320 the past 2 seasons. He hit .259/.326/.389 in 2017 and .270/.335/.395 in 2018. You're also fundamentally misunderstanding why he was "bad." To illustrate, do you know what Javy's OBP was last year? It was .326. So in other words, in 2017 Heyward's OBP was identical to the 2018 runner up for NL and and he was 0.9% better than Javy in 2018.

The reason Javy is substantially better is because of his ISO(SLG-AVG or extra base hits). Javy's was .264. Heyward's has been .094, .130 and .125 the past 3 years. That specifically is what killed him as a hitter in 2017 and 2018. 2016 is a longer story and i mean we're better off not talking about it. Heyward's ISO in 2019 is still sitting at .170. Take your pick of Heyward's best hitting season. It's going to be either 2010, 2012, 2013 or 2015. His ISO those years was .179, .210, .173 and .146. So, he's hitting for substantially more power than 2015 and within range of 2010/13. The .210 in 2012 looks a bit of an outlier and I'm doubtful Heyward ever hits for that much power again but the point here is his best seasons have all come when he's been up over .140 ISO.

Additionally, I'm not sure why you're even mentioning his OBP negatively. His 13.3% walk rate is the second best in his career behind 2010 at 14.6%. As I told you before, this all boils down to a comically unsustainable May BABIP. I mean it's 114 points lower than his 2016 BABIP which was 11th worst in the majors that year. And before people come in here saying he was just lucky in April, his April BABIP was .313. So he wasn't even that fortunate. That's all of 16 points higher than 2018 and when you figure how much harder he was hitting the ball... that's really not that surprising.

And all this is beside the point because the argument you're making that he's a "bad" hitter just isn't accurate. He's an over paid hitter specifically the last 3 years certainly. But an 88 wRC+ in 2017 and a 99 in 2018 really isn't that bad if you take the money out of things. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit .234/.314/.403(90 wRC+) playing 144 games for the World Series winning Red Sox. The money at this point is a sunk cost. So even if you don't think he's any better than 2017/18, you can still win a world series with a hitter like him playing 144 games. And clearly I think he's better than that this year.

 

[beckdawg]

Saw an interesting note in regards to happ. He's apparently close to the point where he'll no longer qualify for super two status. Obviously that's not the biggest issue in the world but could be a nice thing once he works out his issues.

 

[beckdawg]

Fun fact #2, through 42 games last season the cubs were 23-19 with 221 runs scored and 164 against. This year they are 26-16 with 230 runs scored and 169 against. So they are +4 in run differential vs last year.

 

[TL1961]

Saw the replays of Bryant’s three HRs.

You could overlay the three swings over each other and it would look like one.

The three HRs all landed within 50 feet of each other.