Your thoughts on Heyward so far?

[Boobaby1]

Lets see. The Cubs have the best record in baseball without Heyward producing yet. Nice!

Heyward always gets off to slow starts historically. Does that mean he will simply flip the switch? No! But the odds are on his side to improve.

One thing people fail to realize is his value to the teammates around him. He solidifies this team, just like Zobrist does.

34-14. Nice!

 

[NCChiFan]

Heyward's season thus far has been saved by Fowler's continued excellence. If Fowler is on the Orioles this year, not only are the Cubs much worse, but Heyward's uninspiring "first 50 games" would be a main topic of conversation. .286 slugging is absolutely brutal. To say "he's not hitting like you would hope" is a massive understatement, as is the lazy "well he's a slow starter" analysis.

Heyward will always hold value due to his great defensive work, but he doesn't pass the eye test this year. To me, he still looks like he's playing hurt, and I don't see any flashes of 'recovery'. My concern is that Heyward will have lingering injury issues throughout the season, and what he is right now (good defensive OF/liability at the plate) is what he will be in the postseason.

And Zobrist and Rizzo and all the other big bats in the line up. It is easy to be overlooked with the lineup when it is clicking and your (Heyward) not. Defensively, he is a stud. I've been disappointed in him so far, injury exception. Hopefully, he picks it up a bit. Don't expect him to hit .330 but I would settle for .280 or so.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

And Zobrist and Rizzo and all the other big bats in the line up. It is easy to be overlooked with the lineup when it is clicking and your (Heyward) not. Defensively, he is a stud. I've been disappointed in him so far, injury exception. Hopefully, he picks it up a bit. Don't expect him to hit .330 but I would settle for .280 or so.

I really don't care about his BA, .260 would be fine, but his OPS has to be much, much better. If he could get that north of .750 you'd be fine. With his defense he would be nearly a 5 WAR player at that point. The trouble his that his OPS is .603 . Unless it really is injury related you have to assume some regression to the mean and his career numbers are .265/.351/.423 . He has enough of a track record to assume the numbers will be close unless, again, there is an injury and he doesn't look injured to me he looks like his swing is off.

 

[Omeletpants]

You can't have a .230 hitter batting second all year. I'm sure Maddon doesn't want to hurt Heyward's feelings but if this continues you will have to move the guy way down the lineup

 

[TC in Mississippi]

Heyward's slugging is over 100 points down from last year's "slow start" period. If he looks 100% to you right now, then I guess you and Parade_Rain's brainless and perfunctory "did you ever play baseball??" argument has been turned on its head.

No, I didn't say he looked right. I said his swing looks off. Hell, it looks seriously off if you want some clarification. What I said was that he doesn't look injured to me. If he is that's a different story but I don't think anyone here knows that one way or another.

 

[ChiSoxCity]

Pay attention to Heyward's at-bats. He clearly needs to adjust his swing, it's just ugly and hard to watch. He has a two part swing because he keeps his hands very high before the pitch. Instead of swinging through the zone like most hitters, he has to chop down on the ball, then try to drive it out. All that in addition to tracking the pitch and generating enough handspeed to make solid contract. He'll loop a few doubles and bloop base hits from time to time, but he's not going to make solid contact in most at bats, and HOMERUNS are near impossible.

Heyward's not hurt, he just has a messed up swing that needs to be addressed. He needs to sit for awhile and work with a hitting coach on his batting stance--get his hands lower, and focus on swinging cleanly through the zone instead of chopping down on the ball. He should be crushing the ball with his strength, if he lowers his hands and keeps them a little closer to his shoulder.


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[CubsWin]

I'm not worried at all about Hayward. He'll end up being what he is.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

What do you attribute his 'new' swing to? If he did look injured to you, how would it look differently compared to the current Heyward?

I attribute it to the fact that John Mallee and Heyward have been tinkering with it since ST. I'm no doctor but I don't see a favoring of a leg or a side of the body or any grip issues on the bat. Maybe that's wrong and the wrist does have something to do with the lower exit velocity. I'm making a guess like you are and I see a swing that could be corrected.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

I guess my viewpoint is influenced by the fact that Heyward had been hiding a wrist injury basically from April through May. The story kind of went away after Heyward admitted to the injury, but his lack of production and complete lack of power has stayed the same.

You certainly could be right. If you aren't it affords more hope for turning it around but either way we're going to see. One thing is if the OBP isn't at .350 pretty quickly he has no business in the 2 hole.

 

[ChiSoxCity]

The problem is his swing. Period. Always has been. Common knowledge. $184MM wasted. Next subject.


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[Omeletpants]

I beleive a lot of people were worried if Heyward would opt out of his contract with the Cubs. Now they are worried that he won't opt out.

But seriously, I really hope this guy can turn it around because he has shown that potential

 

[jooo83]

Heyward's season thus far has been saved by Fowler's continued excellence. If Fowler is on the Orioles this year, not only are the Cubs much worse, but Heyward's uninspiring "first 50 games" would be a main topic of conversation. .286 slugging is absolutely brutal. To say "he's not hitting like you would hope" is a massive understatement, as is the lazy "well he's a slow starter" analysis.

Heyward will always hold value due to his great defensive work, but he doesn't pass the eye test this year. To me, he still looks like he's playing hurt, and I don't see any flashes of 'recovery'. My concern is that Heyward will have lingering injury issues throughout the season, and what he is right now (good defensive OF/liability at the plate) is what he will be in the postseason.

...And Zobrist. The narrative concerning the offense would probably be a lot different at this point without those 2 guys.

 

[BallGrabber]

So far he's been gold glove status in right, makes up for his lack of offense imo.

 

[cubsmann]

Massive contract for a defensive OF. In the words of Sir Charles, "turrble".


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What's your deal man? Im sorry your team sucks and is sitting at .500 while the Cubbies are 24 over but what exactly are you trying to get at with this? That Heyward isn't the offensive powerhouse that he never was? No kidding but his defense is more than worth the money that none of us are paying for the guy. Who cares how much money the guy makes? Sometimes people act like its their money that's paying the guy. It was worth it to get him from the Cardinals to me. Plus if he does start hitting its just gravy. I definitely don't think he should be batting second, I like him seventh. But how many overpriced losers are playing on the White Sox? I don't know and I don't care. The fact that you spend so much time on a CUBS FANS FORUM shows how sorry your pathetic team is. Because if your team was worth a damn maybe you would be on their fans forum talking about how great they are rather than spending your time trying to bait Cubs fans...

 

[Omeletpants]

What's your deal man? Im sorry your team sucks and is sitting at .500 while the Cubbies are 24 over but what exactly are you trying to get at with this? That Heyward isn't the offensive powerhouse that he never was? No kidding but his defense is more than worth the money that none of us are paying for the guy. Who cares how much money the guy makes? Sometimes people act like its their money that's paying the guy. It was worth it to get him from the Cardinals to me. Plus if he does start hitting its just gravy. I definitely don't think he should be batting second, I like him seventh. But how many overpriced losers are playing on the White Sox? I don't know and I don't care. The fact that you spend so much time on a CUBS FANS FORUM shows how sorry your pathetic team is. Because if your team was worth a damn maybe you would be on their fans forum talking about how great they are rather than spending your time trying to bait Cubs fans...

First rule of CSS: Never type angry

 

[ChiSoxCity]

What's your deal man? Im sorry your team sucks and is sitting at .500 while the Cubbies are 24 over but what exactly are you trying to get at with this? That Heyward isn't the offensive powerhouse that he never was? No kidding but his defense is more than worth the money that none of us are paying for the guy. Who cares how much money the guy makes? Sometimes people act like its their money that's paying the guy. It was worth it to get him from the Cardinals to me. Plus if he does start hitting its just gravy. I definitely don't think he should be batting second, I like him seventh. But how many overpriced losers are playing on the White Sox? I don't know and I don't care. The fact that you spend so much time on a CUBS FANS FORUM shows how sorry your pathetic team is. Because if your team was worth a damn maybe you would be on their fans forum talking about how great they are rather than spending your time trying to bait Cubs fans...

I hope the Cubs let Arrieta walk. I can see him going to the Cardinals and punking you guys for years to come.


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[cubsmann]

First rule of CSS: Never type angry

Im not angry man I just don't get why this so called Sox fan seems so obsessed with the Cubs. We don't care about the Sox because they are not at threat to the Cubs unless a riot breaks out and Wrigley Field burns down during the cross town classic next month. I don't even know one player on the Sox other than Chris Sale who is having a good year. Other than that, I couldn't speak intelligently about any of their players. Why? Because the Cubs are all I care about and the Sox don't pose any threat to the Cubs inevitable championship year...

 

[TC in Mississippi]

Heyward is .323/.382/.516 in his last 7 games and is even fairly respectable in his last 30 .254/.333/.407. His career slash is .265/.351/.425 and guys with track records nearly always regress to the mean. I think you're going to see him get hot for awhile this summer and make up some of those numbers. His defense keeps him valuable always.

 

[Omeletpants]

Im not angry man I just don't get why this so called Sox fans seems so obsessed with the Cubs. We don't care about the Sox because they are not at treat to the Cubs unless a riot breaks out and Wrigley Field burns down during the cross town classic next month. I don't even know one player on the Sox other than Chris Sale who is having a good year. Other than that, I couldn't speak intelligently about any of their players. Why? Because the Cubs are all I care about and the Sox don't pose any threat to the Cubs inevitable championship year...

WTF is this?

 

[cubsmann]

I hope the Cubs let Arrieta walk. I can see him going to the Cardinals and punking you guys for years to come.


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Never going to happen. Why would Arrieta want to play for the Cardinals when the Cubs are obviously the best team in baseball? Its not all about the money. Ask Dexter Fowler...