During the rebuilding years, an essential part of being a fan of the Chicago Cubs was falling in love with the current batch of prospects and following their progress through the minors with almost as much (or more) fervor as the big league team. While there isn’t quite the embarrassment of riches down on the […]
Tag: Jason Heyward
Jason Heyward Must Seize the Means of Production
[NOTE: Social media videos are hyperlinked, not embedded, for ease of navigation.] There is a smoldering crater where Jason Heyward’s 2016 was supposed to be. Line them up: a series of solid .285-ish TAv seasons, highlighted by moderate power, stolen base totals in the 20s, and league-best fielding gave way to a vast chasm of […]
Player Profile: Jason Heyward
Position: RF, CF 2016 Stats: .230/.306/.325, .237 TAv, -0.2 WARP Year in Review: Before the start of the 2016 season, Joe Maddon praised Jason Heyward–then recently signed for eight years and $184 million–as a player possessing not five, but six tools. While Heyward’s identity as a power hitter has always been debatable (a debate complicated […]
Jason Heyward’s Unquestionable Leadership
When it comes to legendary moments in Cubs history, Jason Heyward’s World Series Game 7 speech will go down as the single greatest rain delay performance of all time. This is hardly a controversial position–although I should probably apologize for inspiring the string of profanity just heard by anyone within listening range of Gary Pressy. […]
Playoff Prospectus: Spider-Man Heyward
This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Meg Rowley, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”. I can’t imagine becoming suddenly, publicly bad at something. Not that I can’t imagine being suddenly bad at something; I just can’t imagine that newfound badness mattering much to anyone. Our failures have consequences, […]
Second City October: About Jason Heyward
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Jason Heyward isn’t having a very good season. He started slow, and most of us thought—based on his extensive track record—that he’d simply figure it out at some point. Well, here we are having just finished Game 5 of the NLCS, and Heyward hasn’t figured it out. After […]
It’s Past Time To Talk About Jason Heyward
In the beginning, the defense goes “It’s just April. It’s chilly. He’ll pick up when the weather warms up.” In June, it becomes “It’s still early in the season. He’s adjusting.” But when the season approaches the 152 games played mark, as it did on the North Side this past Wednesday evening, the sentiment becomes […]
Better Pitch Selection Might Help Jason Heyward
It’s been the kind of season for Jason Heyward that scholars will study for years to come. He’s had a miserable time at the plate, beginning with an April slump that seemingly would never end. Still, even through the poor hitting, there was always one thing that people knew they could count on with Heyward as […]
Jason Heyward and Andrew McCutchen’s Day(s) Off
Professional athletes deceive us. They deceive us every time they make the extraordinarily precise and difficult look simple and easy. Swinging at and even making contact with a major league fastball is an absurdity, after all. So few can do it at all, but when we watch someone like Jason Heyward or Andrew McCutchen do […]
Playing the Long Game: Joe Maddon and Jason Heyward
Baseball’s 162-game season can sometimes make individual games feel weightier than they actually are, and the struggles of a single player look greater and feel more frustrating than they probably should. Baseball should be as much about stepping back and seeing the forest as a whole as it is picking through the minutiae of splits […]