I don't know if there is another member of the Chicago Cubs that I root for as much as I pull for Jason Heyward. After signing an 8-year, $184 million dollar contract in December of 2015, he inherited sky high expectations from Cubs fans which unfortunately come with the territory when you sign that big of a contract. As we all know, he scuffled through the first two years of that contract and has rightfully heard his fair share of criticism along the way. There has been no other Cub that has been criticized nearly as much as Heyward has been the past two seasons and to be quite honest with you, it's been pretty much impossible for me to defend him in the past.
And believe me, I've tried.
Before this season, all I could say about Heyward is what he brings defensively (Five Gold Gloves) and the type of character he has in the clubhouse is way undervalued to the common fan. However, I could only use, "But guys...he delivered the Game 7 rain delay speech" line so many times before Cubs fans started to look at me like I was grasping at straws.
I can't blame them. I was.
So to say watching 2018 Jason Heyward has been a revelation would be the understatement of the year. I'm no swing expert and I refuse to act like I know what the hell he has done to "fix" himself this season, but whatever that is, I truly hope that he can keep this pace up. To date, he has delivered arguably the most exciting swing of the season when he hit a walk-off grand slam against the Phillies on June 6th.
Seeing what he's done for the first three months of 2018 is exactly what every Cubs fan expected to get when Heyward signed with the Cubs two years ago. The days of watching him roll over on pitch after pitch and hit slow rollers to second base seem to be a thing of the past and the bat of 2018 Jason Heyward doesn't look like it weighs 58 pounds like it has the past two seasons. Let's just say that 2018 JHey is seeing the ball quite well as of late.
I root so hard for guys like Heyward because the guy is the ultimate pro. When he scuffled in 2016-2017, he dedicated himself to training in Arizona in the off season to try and figure out how to rectify the problem. There isn't one interview that I've seen where he is pointing the finger at someone blaming them for his struggles but rather, he consistently responded that he has to keep putting the work in to get better. Being the consummate teammate hasn't gone unnoticed in the Cubs clubhouse. Former MVP Kris Bryant said it perfectly when he was asked what his thoughts were about Heyward grinding away regardless of his struggles,
"It inspires me. It makes me want to be like him, always keeping your head up, always being a great teammate, being so positive. I can’t say enough about him.”I know there are still a lot of Cubs fan who don't want to acknowledge that Heyward has gotten better since joining the Cubs because it's easier to say that he's still being overpaid, so let's take a look at a few basic stats to put things in perspective.
2016 - .230/.306/.325, .631 OPS, 49 RBIs, 93 K
2017 - .259/.326/.389, .715 OPS, 59 RBIs, 67 K
2018 - .285/.342/.431, .773 OPS, 37 RBIs, 30 K
You can clearly see in each year, his numbers have improved significantly. Obviously the 2018 season is a little over halfway done but we can project those RBIs and Ks will also be better than previous years. Heyward had himself another solid day today going 2-4 with a single, double, 1 RBI, and 2 runs to help the Cubs win their fifth game in a row defeating the Detroit Tigers 5-3 at Wrigley Field. After the game, he shared the secret to his success this season with NBC Chicago reporter Kelly Crull and surprisingly enough, it has absolutely nothing to do with this swing mechanics. Jason Heyward stopped giving a f*ck.I'm saying that only half jokingly but I think there is some truth in Heyward's statement. Nobody knows what goes on inside his head but if a hitter isn't mentally locked in, you won't see very good results. I'll interpret hearing him say that he "stopped caring" as he stopped putting pressure on himself to be perfect during every at-bat. You heard him say that he's finally starting to trust his hands again and his mental approach is clearly where it needs to be right now so I don't see a reason why he can't keep doing what he's been doing so far in 2018. And ya have to admit, it's been pretty fun to watch.
