Chicago Cubs: Will Jason Heyward Become Eventual Leadoff Hitter?
Is Jason Heyward being groomed to eventually be the leadoff hitter for the Chicago Cubs?
The biggest loss for the 2017 Chicago Cubs to replace is center fielder Dexter Fowler. Fowler signed a massive five-year, $82.58 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, leaving the Cubs with a massive hole at the top of their lineup.
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The combination of Albert Almora and Jon Jay should be able to handle, Fowler’s centerfield duties well, but the Cubs will undoubtedly miss his .393 on-base percentage from the leadoff spot.
Joe Maddon appears ready to have slugger Kyle Schwarber take over the top spot in the Cubs’ lineup this season. Schwarber is an unorthodox choice, but I like it a lot. He has always been extremely patient at the plate, never afraid to take a walk. Schwarber has a career .353 on-base percentage that will undoubtedly play at the top of the order.
Plus, every starting pitcher who faces the Chicago Cubs, now knows that they will have to start the game facing Schwarber, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo in order. That is undoubtedly a difficult task to kick off a ball game.
Maddon has also mentioned guys like Ben Zobrist and Addison Russell as potential lead off option, but I wonder if he is saving his best option for a possible resurgence. We all know that Jason Heyward had a terrible 2016 season. The Cubs right fielder hit .230/.306/.325 on the season. He seemed to be an automatic out every time up.
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Now, Heyward did bring some value to the Cubs with his elite defense and base running, but he is going to be a major disappointment if he continues to hit at that level. Fortunately, that is unlikely to happen. A career .268/.353/.431 hitter prior to last season, 2016 appears to be the major outlier here.
Heyward has worked hard this off season to re-work his swing. If the changes stick, we should see him get back on track for 2017. Heyward getting anywhere close to his career averages would be a major boost to the Cubs’ already loaded lineup.I wonder if Heyward will eventually be the primary leadoff option for the Chicago Cubs. This is assuming he hits more like career Heyward as opposed to the 2016 version, of course.
The early Spring Training lineups at least have me curious. Yesterday, the Cubs opened the Spring with a pair of split squad games. Kyle Schwarber was the leadoff hitter against the San Francisco Giants and Heyward led off ahead of Bryant, Rizzo, Ben Zobrist and Russell against the Oakland Athletics. Today against the Cleveland Indians, Heyward is getting another shot to leadoff the game.
The most likely scenario here is that Maddon is just trying to get Heyward as many early at-bats as possible. There is probably not a guy on the Chicago Cubs who needs more Spring at-bats than Heyward. Still, this lineup construction makes me curious.
I fully expect that Schwarber will begin the year as the Cubs’ leadoff hitter. Zobrist will probably be the guy at the top when Schwarber gets a day off. However, if Heyward turns his offensive production back around, I would not be surprised if he ends up bring the Cubs’ leadoff hitter.
Heyward has always had a great approach at the plate and is an elite baserunner. On paper, Jason Heyward is an ideal leadoff hitter for this team. Sticking him at the top allows the Cubs to go with some sort of combination of Bryant, Rizzo and Schwarber two through four. Zobrist would then hit fifth in the best top of the order in all of baseball.
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If Heyward can hit around hit career averages, this would be the best possible lineup construction for the Cubs. I wonder if Maddon has this going on in the back of his mind, but does not want to put the pressure on Heyward just yet. We may find out quickly if Heyward has a strong start to the season.
However, none of that matters if he comes out and hits like he did last season. Jason Heyward getting his offensive back on track is an extremely important part to the success of the 2017 Chicago Cubs.