I like Gold Gloves and I cannot lie: the Jason Heyward thread

[NOLA]

His defense has been awesome, but he's completely lost at the plate. Reminds me of Castro pressing last year and constantly rolling over easy grounders to the infield. Also feels like he's striking out a ton without the power to offset it

I was seriously wondering if someone was going to start a thread like this today. I know he's a slow starter, but he looks lost at the plate. The good news is that he's sucking and we're still awesome.

[XZero77]

He's a slow starter, and what we've seen thus far is pretty much what I expected but hoped not to see. But he's taking walks, not really striking out as much as it might seem, and playing stellar defense. I'm not concerned.

[Cubswin11]

The only thing I worry about is that it seems we aren't going to get the Heyward on offense that takes the next step/leap that so many were hopeful for and know he has the potential to be more. Instead we are probably "only" going to end up with a normal, solid, year from him of a ~10% BB rate, ~15% K rate, .250-.270/.340-.360/.390-.430 slash line and mid-low teens dongs along with his spectacular defense. Which is fine.

[XZero77]

The only thing I worry about is that it seems we aren't going to get the Heyward on offense that takes the next step/leap that so many were hopeful for and know he has the potential to be more and instead we are probably "only" going to end up with a normal, solid, year from him of a ~10% BB rate, ~15% K rate, .250-.270/.340-.360/.390-.430 slash line and mid-low teens dongs along with his spectacular defense. Which is fine.

It's very premature to say that.

[Cubswin11]

The only thing I worry about is that it seems we aren't going to get the Heyward on offense that takes the next step/leap that so many were hopeful for and know he has the potential to be more and instead we are probably "only" going to end up with a normal, solid, year from him of a ~10% BB rate, ~15% K rate, .250-.270/.340-.360/.390-.430 slash line and mid-low teens dongs along with his spectacular defense. Which is fine.

It's very premature to say that.

I agree. But in terms of things to worry about Heyward that's my only real "worry," that we have the offensive player of what he's been the past 3 years instead of a guy taking a offensive leap. Which, like I said, I'm more than fine with him being the player he has been the last 3 years on offense.

[Duke Silver]

Please don't compare him to Starlin Castro. Starlin has a history of looking horrible at the plate for long periods of time. Starlin twice went a whole season with a wOBA under .290. Jason Heyward has had a wRC+ of at least 110 in 5 of his 6 seasons, being over 120 four times. He might look like Starlin right now. But the man has a history of starting off slowly and then picking it up. It's troubling in the sense of "Why are you starting off slowly again, J-Hey?" When Starlin was bad, it was, "Oh great, Starlin sucks again."

Heyward has a proven track record of being a good hitter. Starlin's track record is checkered, to be kind. I am not going to worry about a guy with thousands of good ABs until much later in the year.

[TomtheBombadil]

Not worried at all unless there's an injury, and there isn't one. The best part about Heyward is that a normal Heyward year is fine and he's still only 27 next year.

[UMFan83]

Heyward has a track record of not being horrible at hitting a baseball so I am sure eventually he will get it going but that doesn't mean I'm not frustrated

[tawfiqmp]

He'll be fine and the Cubs aren't asking much out of him. Just be awesome out in the field and drive in a good supply of runs and they're in good shape.

[rocket]

he'll probably be fine. good thing the cubs are winning though cause it probably would be ugly with the fans otherwise.

[Cubbie Swagger]

I'm a little worried that he's gonna have a down year offensively and everyone is gonna freak out like, "SEE! $184 MIL FOR DEFENSE!"

In the long run, though, it will work out. As others have said, he has a track record and he will hit eventually.

[rocket]

if hypothetically he sucks the next 3 years, what are the chances of him giving us a courtesy opt-out?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

His defense has been awesome, but he's completely lost at the plate. Reminds me of Castro pressing last year and constantly rolling over easy grounders to the infield. Also feels like he's striking out a ton without the power to offset it

I was seriously wondering if someone was going to start a thread like this today. I know he's a slow starter, but he looks lost at the plate. The good news is that he's sucking and we're still awesome.

I always find this sort of statement weird. Most guys who are slumping tend to look lost at the plate.

[PetermanRealityTour]

Players after signing a big contract always seem to press and struggle out of the gate the next year. Expecting him to greatly improve over the course of the season

[sneakypower]

.705 career OPS in April and .793 rest of the season; i'm not worried but maybe next year we can ask him to move to 6th or 7th spot for a month to start

[BigSlick]

I actually don't think he looks *lost* at the plate. When I hear "lost" I think of someone like Baez or Soler who sometimes just comes up guessing and hacking at garbage and then walking dutifully back to the bench. Heyward's strike zone judgment is as good as it usually is, he's just not hitting much hard. In fact, paradoxically, I know they were talking about adding more loft to his swing this year, and honestly it looks like he's purposefully putting more on the ground (or maybe he's just late and on top of a bunch of stuff, who knows)

[UMFan83]

.705 career OPS in April and .793 rest of the season; i'm not worried but maybe next year we can ask him to move to 6th or 7th spot for a month to start

I was thinking about suggesting that but for now the Cubs are winning and scoring lots of runs with him hitting there. Dropping him brings more attention to his struggles (especially after signing the largest contract in Cubs history). And while his strikeout rate is 5% higher than last year, he's not striking out at outrageous levels and is still working the count taking walks.

[Bryant's Disco Ball]

From the moment he signed in December I anticipated this thread being made.

There is a good chance J-Hey is never going to look great on offense. His value, again, is that he does everything really solid when it comes to baseball. Doing a bunch of really good things adds up to a great player. Fielding in all aspects, baserunning, walking, getting some hits and a few home runs.

The only thing I get annoyed at with J-Hey is a bunch of you bitches constantly asking for a dong every time he comes up when you should just be asking for a double or single or perhaps a walk and a steal.

[Sammy Sofa]

That's dongless coward talk.

[Bryant's Disco Ball]

That's dongless coward talk.

It's more just understanding that not all dongs are created equal.

[Sammy Sofa]

Dude has shown the ability to dong prodigiously; it's not an unreasonable expectation.

[Bryant's Disco Ball]

Dude has shown the ability to dong prodigiously; it's not an unreasonable expectation.

I mean, when he's been pretty consistent in the dong department for most of his career except for that one year (which wasn't really that prodigious), I think it might be a bit much to say that it's not an unreasonable expectation. The reasonable expectation is that he will dong 10 to 13 times. Not 25 to 30. So it's odd that people are always bringing up J-Hey's dong like it's this big part of his game. It's not. Not even close.

[TomtheBombadil]

Dude has shown the ability to dong prodigiously; it's not an unreasonable expectation.

I mean, when he's been pretty consistent in the dong department for most of his career except for that one year (which wasn't really that prodigious), I think it might be a bit much to say that it's not an unreasonable expectation. The reasonable expectation is that he will dong 10 to 13 times. Not 25 to 30. So it's odd that people are always bringing up J-Hey's dong like it's this big part of his game. It's not. Not even close.

Actually Heyward's averaged 14 HRs a season and 19 per 162 games.

Early season has him putting the ball in the air more often, which should be a good thing moving forward.

[Sammy Sofa]

Well that's not fun. I mean, people are bringing it up because even if he only hits 15 or less, we're all fans of dongs and he is still sans dong at this moment, both for the season and as a Cub. We're rooting for him to bust that dong out.

But hey, what do we know? We're just a bunch of bitches, I guess.

[Bryant's Disco Ball]

Dude has shown the ability to dong prodigiously; it's not an unreasonable expectation.

I mean, when he's been pretty consistent in the dong department for most of his career except for that one year (which wasn't really that prodigious), I think it might be a bit much to say that it's not an unreasonable expectation. The reasonable expectation is that he will dong 10 to 13 times. Not 25 to 30. So it's odd that people are always bringing up J-Hey's dong like it's this big part of his game. It's not. Not even close.

Actually Heyward's averaged 14 HRs a season and 19 per 162 games.

Early season has him putting the ball in the air more often, which should be a good thing moving forward.

Well, yes, because it's jacked up by that one 27 homer season. In the past three seasons he has hit 14, 11 and 13. His other three seasons he's hit 18, 14, 27.

I'm thinking since he has hit 11 to 14 in four of his six seasons, that that is more likely where he is going to end up. But the dude has never been a "prodigious" home run hitter, and the focus on that part of his game like he suddenly is going to be one is odd to me. Sure, anything is possible. But the safer bet is that he hits 10 to 14. So, again, not sure why people constantly ask for a Heyward dong like he's Rizzo or Bryant. He's Zobrist. And nobody is constantly asking for Zobrist dongs.