Chicago Cubs: 5 bold predictions for second half of season
By Ryan Sikes
4. Ian Happ remains in Triple-A Iowa all year
The Chicago Cubs shocked everyone, including me, when they announced that centerfielder Ian Happ would begin the season in Triple-A Iowa. Happ, 24, was striking out in close to 31 percent of his plate appearances between 2017 and 2018 and was trending in that direction throughout Spring Training.
Through 77 games, he’s slashing just 0.225/0.347/0.395. Happ is doing a nice job of still taking his walks but he’s still striking out a ton (27.4 percent to be exact). The word on Happ is that he’s still struggling because of a timing issue.
"“His timing is still a little bit in between,” said Iowa manager Marty Pevey. “From the right side of the plate, he looks really good. From the left side of the plate, he’s missing some fastballs that he’s a little tardy on and it’s something that we’ve been really working on the last few days.” – DesMoinesRegister"
Given how much he’s still have problems catching up to fastballs in the minors, it probably does not make sense to bring up Happ this season. Unless he magically flips the switch, I expect Happ to remain in Triple-A until it appears things are on the right track.
light. Hot. 3 terrible decisions worthy of a mulligan
If he’s brought up against major league pitching and struggles again, it could be detrimental to his confidence with the potential to never recover. Happ stays in Iowa for all of 2019.