4/20 CUBS (Hendricks) @ cards (Martinez) 12:45 CSN/MLBN

[Gmoney08]

 

he changed his swing/approach

 

Is there any articles on this or info shedding light on this? His OBP hasn't changed too drastically.

 

22 year old Heyward looked like a monster especially when taking into count his glove.

 

His K% went down from 23.3% in 2012 to 14.8% last year. Not coincidentally, his OBP went up from .335 in 2012 to .359 last year. And despite those 27 homers, his wRC+ was 121 in both 2012 and last year. He traded pop for contact, and, as a result, he still provides about the same all-around value offensively.

 

How did his advanced metrics look the next year when he hit 14 HR's in 100 games & had a pretty nice OBP still at .350?

[David]

of course this horsefeathering rain couldn't have started a half hour ago

[UMFan83]

 

note the drastic reduction in K rate. I never said it was a good or necessary adjustment, but he's clearly a different type of hitter.

 

Correct again.

 

In his first three seasons he struck out like 373 times. In the next three his power went down and he combined to strike out more than 100 fewer times.

 

I like both versions of Heyward but wouldn't you rather have the higher K, higher power Heyward since he was still getting On Base at a pretty good cilp even with the K's?

 

Also considering those were his 20-22 seasons some reduction in his K's may be attributed just to getting a bit closer to his prime & acclimated to the league.

 

I think one of the big reasons the Cubs signed him was to get a good bat that doesn't K at a high rate. Obviously the fact that he's just a great all around ball player was a big factor as well, but signing both him and Zobrist to me seemed like an attempt to add more contact to the lineup without sacrificing much in the way of patience and power.

[Schwarber Fan]

Let's get at least 2 here.

[CubInOK]

Baez swung at three eyes high pitches there.

[BigSlick]

We just need more hits

[Schwarber Fan]

Delay coming? Just call it.

[rocket]

K I officially throw in the towel for this game

[UMFan83]

It's not fun to watch the Cubs when they are getting shut down like this over a week stretch (yes I realize they've scored 5+ runs 3 different times in that stretch, that's still shut down for this offense)

 

#hottake

[Ski]

It's not fun to watch the Cubs when they are getting shut down like this over a week stretch (yes I realize they've scored 5+ runs 3 different times in that stretch, that's still shut down for this offense)

 

#hottake

I mean, it's not unreasonable to get frustrated when everyone except Fowler is slumping at once. It's incredibly unlikely.

[David]

this rain is really horsefeathering annoying

 

WHY COULDNT THIS HAPPEN EARLIER

[Gmoney08]

 

Correct again.

 

In his first three seasons he struck out like 373 times. In the next three his power went down and he combined to strike out more than 100 fewer times.

 

I like both versions of Heyward but wouldn't you rather have the higher K, higher power Heyward since he was still getting On Base at a pretty good cilp even with the K's?

 

Also considering those were his 20-22 seasons some reduction in his K's may be attributed just to getting a bit closer to his prime & acclimated to the league.

 

I think one of the big reasons the Cubs signed him was to get a good bat that doesn't K at a high rate. Obviously the fact that he's just a great all around ball player was a big factor as well, but signing both him and Zobrist to me seemed like an attempt to add more contact to the lineup without sacrificing much in the way of patience and power.

 

I definitely understand that dynamic but Theo/Jed both seem to be interested in getting some of that power back. I've heard both of them on the radio make reference to the Cubs believing there is a lot of untapped power left in Heyward & Cubs had some ideas in how they could implement getting some of that power back (most likely some adjustment in his swing).

 

 

I think his K% naturally would have improved a bit anyways through his age 23-25 seasons.. its not out of the norm for a 20-22 year old to K alot.

 

Also, wasn't there some talk of the Cubs working on a higher leg kick with Heyward in the spring?

 

I'd like the idea of how Rizzo changes his swing a great deal with 2 strikes, maybe get Heyward into letting it rip again early in the counts & going to his high contact approach with 2 strikes.

[UMFan83]

It's not fun to watch the Cubs when they are getting shut down like this over a week stretch (yes I realize they've scored 5+ runs 3 different times in that stretch, that's still shut down for this offense)

 

#hottake

I mean, it's not unreasonable to get frustrated when everyone except Fowler is slumping at once. It's incredibly unlikely.

 

I feel like that's happened at some point to every single Cubs team that I've ever followed. It's a long season and occasionally even great teams will slump.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

 

Is there any articles on this or info shedding light on this? His OBP hasn't changed too drastically.

 

22 year old Heyward looked like a monster especially when taking into count his glove.

 

His K% went down from 23.3% in 2012 to 14.8% last year. Not coincidentally, his OBP went up from .335 in 2012 to .359 last year. And despite those 27 homers, his wRC+ was 121 in both 2012 and last year. He traded pop for contact, and, as a result, he still provides about the same all-around value offensively.

 

How did his advanced metrics look the next year when he hit 14 HR's in 100 games & had a pretty nice OBP still at .350?

 

He'd already changed his approach by the next year. There is a pretty clear delineation between 2010-2012 and then from 2013-2015 for him. There's not much different in how he has hit balls. There's maybe a little difference. He did hit a lot more ground balls last year. But the two years before that seemed normal. He's going to the opposite field maybe a bit more, and not hitting as many hard-hit balls. But the differences there aren't hugely significant.

 

As far as his approach, his swing%, both in and outside the zone have remained pretty steady. There is one big difference, though. And that is in how often he makes contact. In his first three years, he never had a contact% over 80%. He's been over 80% all three years since then. In 2012, when he set his career high in homers, he also had a career low 75.4% contact%. Last year, he had a career high 84.2% contact%.

 

Those are clear and noticeable changes. And it appears he sacrificed some power in making those changes. His ISO from 2010-2012 was .186. From 2013-2015, his ISO was .141. However, his K% from 2010-2012 was 21.6%, and his K% from 2013-2015 was 15.4%.

 

I'm not sure which Heyward I would rather have. I think, overall, he probably was a little better with the extra pop, despite the increased K-rate. But, I do like when guys make more contact. Ideally, he would be able to take the good parts from both approaches and somehow meld together Power Heyward and Contact Heyward into some amalgamation of a Super Beast.

[Gmoney08]

 

His K% went down from 23.3% in 2012 to 14.8% last year. Not coincidentally, his OBP went up from .335 in 2012 to .359 last year. And despite those 27 homers, his wRC+ was 121 in both 2012 and last year. He traded pop for contact, and, as a result, he still provides about the same all-around value offensively.

 

How did his advanced metrics look the next year when he hit 14 HR's in 100 games & had a pretty nice OBP still at .350?

 

He'd already changed his approach by the next year. There is a pretty clear delineation between 2010-2012 and then from 2013-2015 for him. There's not much different in how he has hit balls. There's maybe a little difference. He did hit a lot more ground balls last year. But the two years before that seemed normal. He's going to the opposite field maybe a bit more, and not hitting as many hard-hit balls. But the differences there aren't hugely significant.

 

As far as his approach, his swing%, both in and outside the zone have remained pretty steady. There is one big difference, though. And that is in how often he makes contact. In his first three years, he never had a contact% over 80%. He's been over 80% all three years since then. In 2012, when he set his career high in homers, he also had a career low 75.4% contact%. Last year, he had a career high 84.2% contact%.

 

Those are clear and noticeable changes. And it appears he sacrificed some power in making those changes. His ISO from 2010-2012 was .186. From 2013-2015, his ISO was .141. However, his K% from 2010-2012 was 21.6%, and his K% from 2013-2015 was 15.4%.

 

I'm not sure which Heyward I would rather have. I think, overall, he probably was a little better with the extra pop, despite the increased K-rate. But, I do like when guys make more contact. Ideally, he would be able to take the good parts from both approaches and somehow meld together Power Heyward and Contact Heyward into some amalgamation of a Super Beast.

 

I just want him to be early 00's Bonds..

[David]

It's not fun to watch the Cubs when they are getting shut down like this over a week stretch (yes I realize they've scored 5+ runs 3 different times in that stretch, that's still shut down for this offense)

 

#hottake

I mean, it's not unreasonable to get frustrated when everyone except Fowler is slumping at once. It's incredibly unlikely.

 

I feel like that's happened at some point to every single Cubs team that I've ever followed. It's a long season and occasionally even great teams will slump.

 

slumps aren't even real things most of the time. sure, if there's something mechanical amiss with a player, that's one thing, but for the most part it's the variance caused by a 60-70% rate of getting out that is just a fundamental part of the game. this is baseball. we could be the best offense ever and still have lots of games like last night.

[Omar]

 

How did his advanced metrics look the next year when he hit 14 HR's in 100 games & had a pretty nice OBP still at .350?

 

He'd already changed his approach by the next year. There is a pretty clear delineation between 2010-2012 and then from 2013-2015 for him. There's not much different in how he has hit balls. There's maybe a little difference. He did hit a lot more ground balls last year. But the two years before that seemed normal. He's going to the opposite field maybe a bit more, and not hitting as many hard-hit balls. But the differences there aren't hugely significant.

 

As far as his approach, his swing%, both in and outside the zone have remained pretty steady. There is one big difference, though. And that is in how often he makes contact. In his first three years, he never had a contact% over 80%. He's been over 80% all three years since then. In 2012, when he set his career high in homers, he also had a career low 75.4% contact%. Last year, he had a career high 84.2% contact%.

 

Those are clear and noticeable changes. And it appears he sacrificed some power in making those changes. His ISO from 2010-2012 was .186. From 2013-2015, his ISO was .141. However, his K% from 2010-2012 was 21.6%, and his K% from 2013-2015 was 15.4%.

 

I'm not sure which Heyward I would rather have. I think, overall, he probably was a little better with the extra pop, despite the increased K-rate. But, I do like when guys make more contact. Ideally, he would be able to take the good parts from both approaches and somehow meld together Power Heyward and Contact Heyward into some amalgamation of a Super Beast.

 

I just want him to be early 00's Bonds..

 

better get your syringe ready

[UMFan83]

Also, Heyward really isnt hitting anything right now offensively. It is possible the higher leg kick or whatever else they may have adjusted will lead to more HRs, but we won't know until he starts to hit consistently.

[Cubswin11]

Also, Heyward really isnt hitting anything right now offensively. It is possible the higher leg kick or whatever else they may have adjusted will lead to more HRs, but we won't know until he starts to hit consistently.

He's been hitting rockets at guys the past 4-5 games.....

[Transmogrified Tiger]

It's been 15 games

 

Heyward has a 27% LD% and a .225 BABIP entering today

 

Swing changes take time to stick

[Aaron_Kennelly]

I just want him to be early 00's Bonds..

 

I think that's something we can all agree on. And you might be right about the improvements in contact ability coming with age. The hope was probably that he would be able to retain some power, which he still hits for a little pop. But, yeah, seeing him do both would be amazing.

 

Heyward's been an interesting player, though. The one constant with him has been the defense; he's fantastic annually. Well, actually, he's been a great base runner, too, except for his injury-plagued year. But, he's had a few thing come and go. And a few weird things have happened that might sap some value from ordinary players. For instance, the power has kinda fluctuated. It comes and goes in spurts. His ISO seems to go up and down from one year to the next. Last year, he hit an inordinate amount of ground balls. He had some bad BABIP luck in 2013. In 2014 he had some poor HR/FB luck. (2011 was different. He just wasn't good that year. He made a lot of weak contact. His soft-hit % was really high. His line-drive % was down big time, which might be random noise. But, his infield-fly ball % was astronomical. He just had a rough year at the plate.)

 

But, besides 2011, even with certain aspects of his game coming and going, he always finds a way to put up a 5-6 win season. He always makes up for his deficiencies in other areas. If one thing isn't going right, well, he does everything else well, so something else will offset it.

[Omar]

is there an ETA for this rain delay?

[jersey cubs fan]

is there an ETA for this rain delay?

 

play expected to resume at 4:20

[Ding Dong Johnson]

is there an ETA for this rain delay?

 

play expected to resume at 4:20

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view5/20141013/5122385/smoke-weed-everyday-o.gif

[David]

Also, Heyward really isnt hitting anything right now offensively. It is possible the higher leg kick or whatever else they may have adjusted will lead to more HRs, but we won't know until he starts to hit consistently.

He's been hitting rockets at guys the past 4-5 games.....

 

I thought that was a weird comment since the narrative of the past two days has been about his 100 mph rockets right at people